Surprise Surprise
by HTApprovedChick
Summary: Someone in the Host Club has decided to make his feelings for Haruhi known. How will the others take the news? How will Haruhi? Funny hijinks and romance ensue. Rated T for safety. Please Read & Review! *NOW WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FOR CHAPTERS 1-4, 8 AND 11!*
1. Ch 1 Challenge

Surprise, Surprise

Author's Note: For future reference...

_Thoughts _

Emphasis (or EMPHASIS)

**Speaking in unison** - used mostly for twins

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran or any of its characters - The lovely and talented Ms. Bisco Hatori does. I simply borrowed them for this story for entertainment purposed only. Please enjoy, but don't steal or sue!

**Surprise, Surprise**

Concept by HTApprovedChick and melovedogboy (on )

Story by HTApprovedChick

Illustrated by melovedogboy

Prologue

--

Ever since that night at the beach in Okinawa, when she had seen through him and immediately realized the lesson he was trying to teach her, he had been more and more confused about her. When he had thrown her to the bed that night, he had expected that she would try to push him away, or at the very least tell him to stop. Kyoya had planned on struggling with her, to scare her a bit and teach her a lesson - that while she was a tough, seemingly fearless person, that there were certain things that she had to be wary of. Instead, she laid there quietly, looked him right in the eye and told him exactly what he was trying to do. He had not expected her to see through him the way that she had. He had not expected anyone to ever see through him as easily as she did that night. And then the way that she had pointed out that he wouldn't sleep with her anyway, because it held no merits for him. He had remembered thinking what an interesting point of view it was. But thinking about it more later that night, lying in bed in his own room, he thought how sad it was that she assumed that his actions were only ever motivated by merit. Oh, of course, they very often were - it was the reason that he had first begun spending time with Tamaki, after all. But it was not the reason he stayed, nor what it the reason that he put up with all the frivolity of the Host Club. His thoughts lingered on her eyes that night as he dropped off, wondering why her words about merit had suddenly started to sting like a papercut. Surely, he thought, he wasn't that heartless. Surely, with all her ability to tell the twins apart and see through his intentions that fateful night, that she should realize that about him, too.

Certainly she was oblivious to certain things, but she was very smart - she had to be, to be a scholarship student. She was at the top of her class, as Kyoya was at the top of his. Over the next few months he had watched her interactions with the other hosts, and their customers, noting everything down in his notebook for later review at home. A commoner, even a smart one like Haruhi, normally would never have warranted a second glance from someone like him - after all, the Ootoris carried the blood of dukes in their veins. The mere mention of his name and his connections could get him through any door and inspire respect, even fear, in those he dealt with on a daily basis. Except for her. She did not care about money or connections, and even though she had been on the receiving end of his blackmail several times, she remained friendly and normal with him. This sweet girl of humble birth was fascinating. He told himself that it was only for the sake of getting to know her as he knew the other hosts, but he found himself daydreaming about the things he had learned about her. His thoughts would linger over her cooking, which even he had to admit was delicious, despite its commonality; the strength which supported her and her father through the early loss of her mother, and especially her pure and simple acceptance of anyone and everyone for exactly the way they were, including himself. He would think about her uncanny way of being totally unaware of her grace or appeal. Haruhi Fujioka was totally unlike any girl, no, any person he had ever known, and he had to keep reminding himself that it was for this reason, and only for this reason, that he was so preoccupied with her.

--

Ch. 1

Challenge

Haruhi walked into the Third Music Room that winter afternoon, dreading the so-called "Super-Secret-Surprise-Cosplay" that Tamaki had been ranting about for the last week. She knew she never should have gone and told him that she was sick of their wastefully expensive cosplays, especially since the cost of renting the costumes was added to her vase debt. Sometimes she thought the only reason that Kyoya allowed all the frivolous spending was to punish her for some as-yet-undiscovered offense. But her tirade against the costs of another cosplay seemed only to have a temporary effect on the club's king. He had sulked in his corner of doom for a while, but had recovered within moments with his usual enthusiasm. He had tackled her, crushing the air out of her while screaming something about commoner brilliance and how cute she was when she was angry. But as she walked into the room today, she saw no forests of exotic plants, no expensive set pieces of some far away or ancient land. In fact, the room looked the same as it usually did, filled with its collection of tea tables, chairs, and sofas.

_Thank God, _she thought. _Tamaki-senpai has forgotten all about that Super-Stupid-Silly-Cosplay junk. Maybe I'll get some relative peace... _Then she saw the table in the center of the room, covered with a drape. She couldn't make out what was underneath.

sigh "Guess I spoke too soon," she muttered under her breath as she trudged into the back room to put down her things, dodging the tackle attempts from Hikaru and Kaoru. She came back out and waved to Mori and Hunny, who were in their usual corner with cakes and Bun-Bun. She glanced at the covered table again as she walked over to Kyoya, who was sitting with his laptop on the coffee table in front of him and his slim black notebook open in his hand. He seemed very absorbed in whatever he was doing, but Haruhi was too curious about what was under that tablecloth, and what ridiculous outfit she was going to be subjected to today to let this one go.

"Kyoya-senpai..."

He flinched imperceptably, startled that she had come up so close so suddenly. "Ah, Haruhi-kun..." He looked up and straightened his glasses. _Damn - I can't believe I flinched. It's just Haruhi... no reason to lose my cool. _

"Senpai, please tell me what Tamaki has hidden under that blanket, and how much more you've added to my debt for it."

"Haruhi-kun, I'm surprised at you." he smirked, enjoying a chance to gently tease Haruhi. "You know that I can't tell you what Tamaki has planned for our cosplay today. He has threatened me with untold tortures and punishments if I were to ruin his surprise."

"Somehow, that sounds like something you would do, rather than Tamaki-senpai," she grumbled. "Now really, just tell me what ridiculous outfit I'm going to have to wear today. Kimonos? Fairies? Circus performers? "

Kyoya paused for a moment, caught off-guard with an image of Haruhi in a leotard as a circus contortionist... _Wait...no...shake it off, Ootori. She's just a girl. A very cute girl... SNAP OUT OF IT !_

"All right, you've caught me, Haruhi-kun. I actually have no clue what Tamaki has hidden underneath that cloth. It was set up when I got here, and he begged me not to look. Apparently this is something he came up with all on his own. " Kyoya flicked a quick glance over at Haruhi's profile out of the corner of his eye, and silently praised the way her hair fell into her eyes before redirecting his gaze at the table, following Haruhi's gaze at the lumpy mass.

"Wondering about our cosplay, huh, Haruhi?" leered Hikaru, as the twins crept up behind her and draped their arms around her shoulders.

"I do hope that there's something sweet and girly under there for you to wear, don't you, Hikaru?" added Kaoru from her left.

"So you don't know what Tamaki-senpai is planning either, huh?" She said.

"**Not a clue**," they said in unison, just as Lord Tamaki himself waltzed into the room.

"Ah, Haruhi! Daddy is here! Ah, everyone is here! Wonderful, wonderful! Now we can all begin our cosplay! Can you guess, my darling daughter? Can you guess what it is?"

Haruhi rolled her eyes "No, senpai, I don't care." It took several minutes to drag Tamaki out of his gloomy corner of woe. Haruhi groaned inwardly, but finally said the words she knew would snap him out of it. "What is it this time?"

He recovered quickly. "Ah, you're going to appreciate this very much, Haruhi. This cosplay is very inexpensive, and it will be very, very fun. In fact, there's going to be a game, and a prize for the winner!"

"What kind of a prize, Tama-chan?" piped Hunny from his perch on Mori's broad shoulders. "Cake? Is it cake?"

"**A date with Haruhi?**" asked the twins. "**Ah, our favorite toy, we will take you home to play with us...** " they grinned and snuggled very close to her.

"Get away from my dear daughter, you perverted twins! Mother, stop them! " Tamaki pleaded with Kyoya.

"Yes, 'Mother'," Haruhi grumbled. "Please get them off me." She was starting to buckle under their weight, when Kyoya pushed his glasses up his nose and leveled a glinting glare at the two redheaded twins. He would never admit it, but he hated when they draped themselves around her like that, too. Sometimes he longed for a chance to step into their shoes, to be able to flirt and play with her with the same reckless abandon that they did. But that would be unthinkable for an Ootori, to stoop to that level of silliness.

"**Ah, you're no fun at all, Kyoya-senpai.**" The twins shrugged their shoulders and let Haruhi go. Hikaru looped an arm around his brother's shoulders.

"So, what this prize, anyway?"

Tamaki grinned "Ah, I was hoping you would ask. It is a whole day to spend alone with the host club member of their choice, doing whatever they like, with the expenses being covered by the other losing members of the Host Club." Haruhi was shocked... she was going to have to shell out more money to pay for a spoiled rich kid outing... and then it slowly dawned on her. Tamaki intended to win, and choose her to spend the day with. _No doubt doing something ridiculous, and somehow related to commoner father-daughter bonding._ The thought of being stuck alone with him all day dashing around a shopping mall was enough to bring out a competitive spirit that she didn't normally show. In most instances, Haruhi wouldn't care if she won or not, much in the same way that she didn't particularly mind posing as a boy for the Host Club. But this was too much. She was sick and tired of feeling like she was no closer to paying off her debt now than she was when she had started this charade. She started thinking that, if she won, she could ask the others to donate some money towards paying off her debt, and then spending her day studying rather than wasting money on a trip to Okinawa or some such nonsense.

_I'm going to make sure that I do all that I can to win this. I only hope its something I can manage to pull off. Nothing too silly._

Kyoya, however, was having a silent conversation of his own. _Hm... a day alone with the Host Club member of my choice... An excellent chance to get Haruhi alone, get to know her better, without the silly interruptions of the others._ And Kyoya Ootori's competitive spirit came out.

"Tama-chan, what are the costumes? Bun-Bun and I can't wait to see, can we, Takashi?" cried Hunny from the taller senior's shoulders.

"Yeah," replied Mori.

"Ah, yes, come with me, my children," Tamaki snapped out of his argument with the twins over who would win (Kaoru) and who he would choose (Haruhi), and what they would do (something about dress-up). He recovered his club King attitude, and walked over to the table, leading the others behind him. "I know you've all been anticipating this for some time now!"

_Baka... he knows we all just want to get this over with_, Haruhi rolled her eyes.

"And now, the moment we've all been waiting for... the most ingenious Super-Secret-Surprise-Cosplay idea, inspired by Dear Haruhi's commoner logic that we spend less money to entertain ourselves, I present you with your costumes!" Tamaki yanked the drape off the table with a flourish to reveal seven head forms with colored wigs on them. Two black, one brown, two red, and two blond... with very familiar, short hairstyles...

"**No way**!" shouted the twins in unison.

"..." It took Haruhi a few seconds to process what she was seeing. "Wigs, senpai? Why are we only wearing wigs?"

"We're going to cosplay as each other! Won't this be great!"

--

Author's Note: UPDATE - The illustration for this chapter has been posted on deviantArt. For some reason I can't post the link here, or the web address, and for some equally strange reason, it will allow me to post the link if i put spaces in strange places. So, just cut and paste the following address, and then delete all the spaces. http : / / melovedogboy . deviantart . com /art/Voila-97240358


	2. Ch 2 Switcheroo

Ch

Author's Note: For future reference...

_Thoughts _

Emphasis (or EMPHASIS)

**Speaking in unison** - used mostly for twins

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran or any of its characters - The lovely and talented Ms. Bisco Hatori does. I simply borrowed them for this story for entertainment purposed only. Please enjoy, but don't steal or sue!

Ch. 2

Switcheroo

--

"You've got to be kidding me..." Haruhi was stunned. If there was anything worse than dressing up in a kimono and pretending to be a samurai, it was this. She couldn't imagine how she would dress up like one of the others... _If I'm Mori, will I have to wear stilts?_

"Actually, this is a rather good idea, Tamaki." Everyone looked at Kyoya, Tamaki already beaming with praise from his reserved friend. "The ladies will probably find this whole situation very... cute, dare I say? Our customers already come to see us as we are, and this will be a novel way to bring in more customers." Everyone relaxed to see that Kyoya was being his usual, greedy self.

"So, how do we decide who plays who, Tama-chan?"

"We draw names from a hat! The name that you draw is the host that you have to play for the day. And you will take on that host's designations, and at the end of the afternoon we will take a vote to see who gave the best performance as that host." Tamaki held out a cap with seven slips of paper in it. "I will choose first! I hope I get to be Haruhi, so that I can show you all how cute I think she is!"

_Oh, Mother in Heaven, please, no! _Thought Haruhi frantically. She got images of Tamaki in a Haruhi wig prancing around the room and behaving an utter fool as he followed her, in a Tamaki wig, around the room, calling her "Daddy Dearest". _shudder_

"And I'm going to be... Hikaru..." Tamaki frowned. "No, wait, let me try again! That was just an example!" But Hunny and Mori had already drawn their papers.

Hunny squealed, "Ah! I got Haru-chan! Yay!!"

_Ah, that's actually better than I could have hoped _thought a relieved Haruhi. _At least the worst that will happen is that "I" will be eating cake and snuggling Bun-Bun_. "Who did you get, Mori-senpai?" she ventured.

"...Kaoru..." Mori looked over at Tamaki, who stopped trying to get Hunny to trade names with him, and turned as white as a sheet. He slowly looked up at his new 'twin', and he and Mori turned to the real twins, who were both already rolling on the floor, laughing their lungs out.

"HAHAHAHAHA, Make sure to do the brotherly love! That's why our customers designate us!" cried Kaoru.

Mori looked as though he was going to be sick. Tamaki had retreated under a doom cloud in the corner, suddenly realizing that maybe this wasn't the best idea he had ever had.

"This is going to be priceless!" screamed Hikaru, as he wiped a tear from his eye. "I'm so glad I brought my camera with me! Now who should we be..." he snatched the cap from a sulking Tamaki and pulled out a name, then handed the cap to Kaoru, who drew his.

"I got Hunny-senpai!" laughed Kaoru.

"And I got Mori-senpai!" replied Hikaru. He and his twin exchanged a mischievous glance, and grinned evilly at the two seniors.

"Ah, maybe we will see some 'Cousin Love' today." Laughed Kaoru, as Hikaru snickered and slid his arm around Kaoru's waist. Hunny and Mori's jaws hung open. Tamaki snapped out of his corner of woe and began to giggle.

Haruhi took the cap and looked at the two slips left inside. Tamaki or Kyoya. She was wondering who she would rather be when Tamaki said " Oh, dearest daughter, please pick my name, so I can see what you truly think of me!"

_Kyoya. Definitely Kyoya._ She thought if all she had to do was take notes in the black notebook, stare a laptop over the glasses and behave flawlessly to any of the designators, that she might be able to pull this one off. Well enough to win.

"Well, If she chose your name, Kyoya would have to play himself, and that's no fun at all." said Hikaru, who was already in his new Mori-wig.

"But that means that Kyoya would have to be..." A blonde Kaoru and his brother looked at each other in shock, then glee as they, and everyone else, turned to Kyoya, who was standing very still, contemplating his fate.

_I cannot __believe__ that I'm going to have to play that buffoon for an entire afternoon. It is beneath an Ootori to spend the afternoon flirting shamelessly with anyone in sight, yelling at the twins, irritating myself, and finding every available opportunity to be close to Haruhi... _Kyoya's eyebrows raised as a new thought dawned on him. Just for this afternoon, he wasn't an Ootori._ That behavior was beneath an Ootori, but not beneath a Suoh. And with Haruhi as the new "Mother" Kyoya...wait... this might not be so bad after all..._

Kyoya walked up behind Haruhi and reached into the cap, taking the last two papers out of it and handing her the one with his name on it. He took off his glasses, handed them to her along with his notebook, walked over to the table and put on the Tamaki wig. He paused for a moment, adjusting the wig to make sure that all his own black hair was tucked out of sight, then spun on his heel and flung out his arms in a dramatic Tamaki gesture and cried,

"Mother! You must put on your wig immediately and get the others ready, we have guests! Run along, my sweet daughter," he waltzed over to Hunny, who was having trouble with the Haruhi wig, and knelt down to help him adjust it, then swept him up in a huge glomping hug, squealing "Oh, you're so cute in all your commoner ways!"

Everyone had been frozen while Kyoya took on this new persona. He wandered from person to person, chattering at them in very un-Kyoya, but very Tamaki-like way. Soon the twins were collapsed on the floor beating their fists and crying with peals of laughter, and Hunny was laughing as well. Even Mori cracked a grin. Haruhi started quivering with inner laughter. Kyoya wasn't just a good actor, he was a great actor. She knew that he must have lots of experience presenting a certain image to the right people, but she had never thought that he could put on a show like this. This was going to be far, far better than she had first imagined.

A blonde Kyoya had just finished using a reluctantly relinquished Bun-Bun to perform a dancing puppet show for the new Hunny, which reduced in the Hitachiins to a breathless heap on the floor. They were holding their sides and gasping "NO... my side... stop... too funny!!" Kyoya handed Bun-Bun back to the real Hunny, and strolled over to Tamaki, who had the wrong twin's wig on his head and was standing stock still, totally stunned at his cool friends ridiculous, mincing impersonation of him.

"Now Hikaru, Daddy won't have you sexually harassing my sweet, innocent daughter. You just keep you hands to yourself and leave poor Haruhi alone." Kyoya was shaking his finger at Tamaki, and were it not for his dark eyes, which he was squinting to see without his glasses, Haruhi would have sworn it was Tamaki himself. This really was getting to be very funny, though she was worrying that she may not be able to beat Kyoya at this challenge.

Tamaki protested at this turn of events, "Kyoya! I don't act like that at all!"

"..." And in a flash, Kyoya was tucked into a corner, hugging his knees and pouting under a dark, stormy doom cloud. He was even drawing circles on the marble floor and glancing over his shoulder with big sad eyes. That was the last straw. Haruhi burst out laughing as she walked over to the table and put on her Kyoya wig. She put on his glasses and pushed them up her nose, straightening up to stand as tall as she could. _Poor guy must be barely able to see without these_, she thought, but she cleared her throat and turned around, trying not to laugh as she said, "Come now, Father, we have guests waiting."

--

Author's Note: I loved writing this chapter! It made me laugh while i was writing... my goodness. This thing has a life of its own. Please read and review!

Oh, here's the address for the illustration for this chapter. For whatever reason, I can't post it as a link, and this writing program deletes the parts of the address, so just cut and paste, then delete all the spaces. http : / / melovedogboy . deviantart . com /art/sexy-kyouya-97705225


	3. Ch 3 Anticipation

Ch

Author's Note: For future reference...

_Thoughts _

Emphasis (or EMPHASIS)

**Speaking in unison** - used mostly for twins

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran or any of its characters - The lovely and talented Ms. Bisco Hatori does. I simply borrowed them for this story for entertainment purposed only. Please enjoy, but don't steal or sue!

Ch. 3

Anticipation

--

The Host Club members were all in the back changing room, putting the last-minute touches on their wigs. Tamaki and Mori had switched wigs, and were combing the twin's trademark parts into their red hair. Even with the identical wigs and uniforms, no stretch of the imagination could picture those two as twins. Tamaki could pass as a slightly taller version of Hikaru, and he certainly could play the part, but Mori towered over him, and nothing about his stoic face conveyed the mischievous nature of the Hitachiins. Tamaki was reaching a higher state of irritation in having to play the naughty, sneaky Hikaru, and he was worrying about losing the prize to one of the twins. He was sure they stood a better chance of pulling off their new roles than he had anticipated. They were already so close that it would not be difficult for them to pretend to be devoted cousins instead of devoted brothers. His 'Inner-Mind Theater' began rolling images of the dastardly twins kidnapping his precious Haruhi and taking her away to some darkened hotel room, all the while glancing back at him over their shoulders and laughing with an evil gleam in their eyes.

"Ah, my poor Haruhi! What will I do if those perverted twins win? It just can't be! Daddy won't allow it! Mori-senpai, you must help me to win this challenge - It's absolutely necessary!!" Tamaki had a hold of Mori's jacket sleeve and was giving his best puppy-eyes a try. Mori looked slightly taken aback, but didn't pull away immediately.

"Why?" he asked.

"Mori-senpai, I REALLY need to win this, PLEEEEASE, for the prize." Mori leaned away and turned to look at the now redheaded King, his face unreadable. "Mori-senpai, I can't trust any of the others to take care of Haruhi if they win - she can't afford to pay for a day off, and if the twins win and take my dearest daughter away, what will we do? PLEASE..." he begged, with a desperate look in his eyes.

Mori considered this, his dark features looking slightly out of place underneath red hair. He knew he was unlikely to win himself, and so had not thought about this eventuality. He thought about Haruhi getting saddled with even more debt, and also of the irritated look that he had seen on her face on the many occasions when the twins were harassing her. Neither seemed suitable outcomes to him.

"Well, Mori-senpai? Will you promise to help me win this? For Haruhi?" he looked back down at Tamaki, who was practically on the verge of tears.

"...Yeah."

"Oh thank you so much, my dear brother!! I know with your help playing as Kaoru that we can win this. Just be sure to give me adoring looks and look shy if I say anything about sharing a bed, or someone else touching you, or..." Tamaki continued on, prattling about the many awkward situations that the twins would use to their advantage when portraying the image of 'Brotherly Love'. Mori shook his head, dreading the next few hours, but knowing that he was going to have to make a huge effort in order to help out his friend.

The two "twins" were the first ones ready, and as they made to leave the preperation room, they passed Hunny in his Haruhi wig. Hunny was using a second mirror to check that none of his blonde hair was sticking out of the back of the chocolate-brown wig. As his tall cousin passed, he called out to him.

"Takashi, how do I look? I look just like Haru-chan, right? Right? What about you, Tama-chan? What do you think? Even Bun-Bun thinks that I'm cute!"

"Yeah." Mori didn't like to lie, but this seemed harmless enough. To him, Hunny looked the same as ever, just with brown hair. This was probably because Hunny was still clutching Bun-Bun as he bounced around between Mori and Tamaki, something he had never seen Haruhi do.

However, Tamaki agreed that Hunny as Haruhi looked thoroughly passable. "Yes, Hunny-senpai, you look almost as cute as the real thing!" He realized that needed to let Hunny in on his plan, because he could see their customers swooning over a Haruhi look-alike who behaved as sweetly as Hunny. He leaned over and lowered his voice, "But let me let you in on a little secret - Mori-senpai has already agreed to help me win this challenge, for Haruhi's sake. When I win I'll choose her as my guest, so that she won't have to have anything added to her debt, and I will keep her away from those evil twins. But we must keep this a secret from Haruhi. I don't want her to think that we conspired to make her lose. The poor girl is a terrible actress, she'll never be able to perform as a passable Kyoya. And those little devils can't find out, either."

Hunny had stopped bouncing and listened brightly, and when Tamaki finished, he nodded enthusiastically. He also saw things from Mori's point of view. "But Tama-chan, what about Kyo-chan? Should we tell him, too?"

"No, of course not! That greedy Dark Lord would jump at the chance to put Haruhi deeper into debt for the sake of the club, and he would ruin the whole plan. Plus, he won't win. Can you imagine him keeping up with all of my adoring designators, or even performing convincingly as me? I mean, you saw that ridiculous, mincing display that he put on just now - it's nothing like me! He couldn't possibly win! So there is no reason at all to tell him."

"Aha. I see, Tama-chan" Hunny and Mori exchanged glances. While they agreed that Haruhi was a poor actress, they had both thought that Kyoya's performance as Tamaki was both accurate and funny. However, because they both could see Kyoya seizing this opportunity to make more money, they decided to go along with Tamaki's plan to push him to win.

As Mori and Tamaki moved again towards the door, Hunny paused for a moment to look over at Haruhi. She was checking her appearance in a mirror, Kyoya's black hair on her head and his glasses in her breast pocket. Kyoya was standing nearby, fishing in a drawer for something, the blonde hair looking rather out of place on him. Hunny smiled with a sudden realization, and bounced over to them, calling back over his shoulder, "Meet you in the salon, Tama-chan!" Hunny sidled up to Haruhi and asked "Well, Haru-chan, how do I look?"

Haruhi looked down at him and stifled a giggle. "You look very cute, Hunny-senpai. But I miss your blonde hair - you don't look like yourself."

"Well, I'm not supposed to. I'm supposed to look like you, silly!"

"Oh, yeah. Well, you certainly look cuter than I do."

"Thats not true! Kyo-chan, tell her she's just as cute!" Hunny looked over at Kyoya, who was still rummaging around in the vanity, squinting as he searched. He muttered under his breath, ignoring the question, though inwardly he answered,_Yes, yes, of course she is. _

"Well, I'm super glad that I get to hang out with you all day, Haru-chan." Hunny continued.

"What do you mean, Hunny-senpai? I host by myself, and so does Kyoya."

"Yes, when he hosts, he's by himself, but he's never very far away from you."

Kyoya froze... had he been that obvious? He realized now that whenever Haruhi entered the room, he was never far from her side. He was always there to explain something, answer a question, or made an observation on whatever was happening at the time. But he had simply been trying to make sure that he could observe her closely... it had nothing to do with wanting to be near her...

Haruhi paused, and looking up at Kyoya, she knitted her brows together and thought hard. "No, I've never noticed him. I mean, I guess he's always around somewhere..." Kyoya relaxed and continued scabbling in the bottom drawer. He silently thanked Haruhi's oblivious nature, and finally found what he was looking for - his spare contact case.

"Well, I imagine that you should run along and join the others and the guests. Haruhi and I will be another moment or so." Kyoya wanted Hunny to leave as soon as possible, before he said anything else that might make Haruhi suspicious of his feelings. He had already decided that he would tell her someday, just not this day. He would wait for the just the right moment, when he had just the right words to tell her how he felt. Hunny looked at Kyoya with a look of understanding - as sweet and innocent as he pretended to be, Hunny was possibly the most observant one in the Host Club. Hunny shrugged, said goodbye to Haruhi, and finally walked out into the main salon, where the identical cousins and the mismatched twins were greeting the first few guests and explaining the game.

Kaoru turned around, saw Hunny holding Bun-Bun, and rushed over to him, calling out, "Haru-chan! You found my Bun-Bun! Thank you so much, Haru-chan!" Mori and Tamaki, sensing something bad awas about to happen, followed hot on his heels.

"Your... Bun-Bun?" Hunny had obviously overlooked this aspect of the cosplay, but with urging from Tamaki, he handed over the pink bunny doll. As Kaoru leaned to grab the toy, Hunny leaned close and whispered, "If anything happens to my Bun-Bun, you will regret it."

Kaoru hesitated, then gently took Bun-Bun from Hunny's outstretched arms and whispered back, "Don't worry - I'll take special care of him. I'll even feed him cake, if you want."

Hunny brightened at the mention of his favorite thing. "Cake! Yes, Bun-Bun loves cake! And very sweet tea! OH, oh, what kind of cake do we have today?"

"All the usual kinds, I guess. But since you're Haruhi today, I suppose you'll have to have strawberry cakes, since thats the only one she likes. And the commoner tea..." Kaoru straightened up and walked away as he said these last few words over his shoulder.

"Commoner tea? And... only one cake?" Hunny's face fell. He looked longingly after Kaoru and Bun-Bun, then up towards the redheaded Mori. "Takashi... only one cake..."

Mori looked very concerned for his tearful cousin, and put one hand on his shoulder while Tamaki placed his hand on the other shoulder. Standing like that, the three of them looked tolerably like the real thing. He said, "Strawberry cake... Haruhi loves strawberries..."

Hunny looked up at him, over at Kaoru, who was now riding a black-haired Hikaru piggy-back over to a table laden with cakes of different sorts, and back to Mori. "Haruhi?"

"Yeah..."

"You can have all the sweet tea and strawberry cake you like, Hunny-senpai." Tamaki leaned in to comfort the tearful senior. "We just can't let those twins know what we're up to. And I promise that tomorrow we'll have even more cake for you."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Hunny sighed heavily, but cheered as Tamaki led him over to a sofa while Mori collected a few dishes of strawberry cake from their usual table. This was going to be a long afternoon.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Kyoya and Haruhi stood at sinks at the long vanity in the changing room. Kyoya was putting in the spare contacts, while Haruhi smoothed out the dark black wig on her head and tried to peer over the glasses at herself in the mirror. Kyoya watched her reflection secretly for a few moments, thinking how sweet she looked with black hair, and yet how strange it was to see her looking like himself. A smile played on the edges of his mouth as she squinted around his glasses, the prescription from her own contacts interfering with the prescription lenses.

"We have the same prescription, you know," he said. "You should just take out your contacts and wear my glasses, for the full effect."

She blinked myopically at him, "How did you kn... " then smiled, taking him rather off-guard, which was something he still wasn't used to. "Oh, I forgot, silly question. I'm sure you know more about everyone here than we care to know. Sure, senpai, I'll wear your glasses ... if you're sure you don't mind lending them to me."

"Don't worry - if you break them, it'll just add to your debt. So I'm sure you'll be careful with them." He smiled slyly, and waited with her as she took out her contacts. Without them in, she fumbled around for Kyoya's rimless glasses, which had disappeared on the now blurry marble counter.

"Here, hold still..." Kyoya smiled again, knowing that she couldn't see, and picked up his glasses and slipped them onto her face. Then used the tip of his finger to push them up the bridge of her nose. He stepped back to admire his work. "They suit you."

Haruhi blinked as Kyoya's face came into focus through his lenses. _They really are the same prescription, _she thought as she smiled again. "Thank you, senpai."

He bowed his now blonde head slightly, then turned towards the door, to the main room where the others were waiting. "Shall we, Mother?" He cracked a very un-Kyoya-like grin and, looping one arm lazily around her shoulders, flourished his free hand towards the door. It was Haruhi's turn to be caught off-gaurd, and she looked up, startled.

She hadn't totally realized how handsome Kyoya was. For some reason, it had just never registered with her in the months that she had known him. Perhaps it was his retiring nature, usually at the back of the group, allowing others to lead while he remained the Shadow King, that had made it easy to overlook. But then he grinned again, and Haruhi was startled to have a sudden thought in her head - it was his eyes. His dark gray eyes that were usually half closed or hidden behind the sunlight reflecting off his glasses. She had never gotten a good, close look at them since that night at the beach in Okinawa, and it was like seeing his face for the first time. She mentally shook herself out of this unexpected reverie and leaned forward, opening the door for herself and Kyoya-Tamaki.

"Yes, Father. Let's shall."

--

Author's note: UPDATE The illustration for this chapter has been posted on deviantart. For some reason I can't post the link here, or the web address, and for some equally strange reason, it will allow me to post the link if i put spaces in strange places. So, just cut and paste the following address, and then delete all the spaces. http : / / melovedogboy . deviantart . com /art/Plotting-97240532


	4. Ch 4 A Dark Prince Pt 1

CH

Author's Note: For future reference...

_Thoughts _

Emphasis (or EMPHASIS)

**Speaking in unison** - used mostly for twins

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran or any of its characters - The lovely and talented Ms. Bisco Hatori does. I simply borrowed them for this story for entertainment purposed only. Please enjoy, but don't steal or sue!

Ch. 4

A Dark Prince

--

The Third Music Room was in an unusual state of affairs. At first, the devoted regular customers were slightly put out at being told that their designations were being switched around. The largest crowd was waiting to see Tamaki, since he held more than half of the designations for the club. They were shocked to hear that they were going to be entertained by none other than Kyoya Ootori - in a blond wig, no less. A great many of them had rarely, if ever, had occasion to speak to Kyoya about anything other than business or classes. In their collective experience, Kyoya, while good-looking, seemed quiet and somewhat bookish, as he spent the bulk of his time during Host Club hours on his laptop rather than with designations of his own. And so it was with great shock that they witnessed the scene before them.

"Ah, sweet princess," Kyoya purred as he bowed low over the hand of one of his new customers. "I have been feeling the cold of the winter in my heart for far too long, but the sight of your lovely smile has melted the snow inside - and I shall be eternally grateful to you for it... my princess..." He straightened swiftly and pulled the stunned girl into his arms, leaning her backwards as she swooned.

""Aaahhhhh!" If the customers had been unsure, they were convinced now. Several of them grabbed for their phones to call their friends to come see this new Prince of the Host Club.

Haruhi rolled her eyes as she watched this from across the room. And yet, as simpering as the performance was, Kyoya was still doing the best impersonation of Tamaki that Haruhi could have imagined any of them doing. It was surprising to see the cool, collected, and practical Kyoya flirting shamelessly with a handful of girls at once with all the skill of a carnival plate spinner. She wondered why, if he was able to do this so well, why didn't he have just as many deisgnations as the rest of them?

She had had only one designation so far that day, and it had been very easy to play the part of Kyoya - although she had not seen him entertain very often, she knew his cool style well enough to make an effort. She was now occupying herself by wandering the room, greeting guests at the door, and making appointments on a blank page at the back of Kyoya's black notebook. She had half hoped that she might find something in his notes that was revealing or incriminating, but this notebook only seemed to contain Host Club notes. Ledgers of money spent on various things, appointments, profiles of some of the customers, etc. Haruhi snapped the notebook shut and pushed the glasses up her nose, as she had seen Kyoya do so many times before. She sighed as she realized that she was not going to win this challenge. Not so much based on her poor acting ability; in fact, she thought she was doing a pretty good job as Kyoya. But in her role as Kyoya, she spent the afternoon watching the other hosts, all of whom had more designations, and customers who were very likely to either vote for them, or for their own favorite host. Since she did not have many devoted regulars, and neither did Kyoya, it seemed that she could stand no chance of winning at all.

Another cry went up from Kyoya-Tamaki's group of fans - he seemed to have his fingers underneath a girl's chin as he whispered in her ear, and while Haruhi could not hear what was being said, she saw the girl blush. Kyoya turned from her to speak to another girl, and as he moved, Haruhi met his gaze. It was brief, but she could tell immediately that Kyoya was thoroughly enjoying himself. She smiled to herself, thinking how glad she was that Kyoya was having fun for a change, but also how strange it was. Kyoya usually treated Tamaki's ridiculous behavior with an air of maddening patience and tolerance rather than approval. But then again, money (well, points technically, but eventually money for club use) was involved, so of course Kyoya was giving it his all. She began to wonder what kind of merits he was gaining from this when he caught her gaze again. He had finished with his customers for the moment, so he got up and walked over to her.

"Well, Mother, how are you enjoying your afternoon?" Kyoya was still in character, though why Haruhi could not understand.

"There are no customers around, senpai, so you can give it a rest."

"Ah, but why would I do that? I've always believed that one should expand their experiences by trying all kinds of things. And this is a bit of a challenge for me, to behave so... differently than I usually do. It's rather liberating, but very tiring. I don't know how he keeps up with them every day." Kyoya sipped some tea as he looked across the room at his now redheaded friend, who was not faring as well as he had been. Tamaki seemed to be struggling with the idea of portraying "brotherly love" with the tall, stoic Mori.

"You're going to have to get used to it, senpai. Almost a quarter of the customers that you had today have designated you as their host for the coming week."

Kyoya choked.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

A new, mismatched pair of twins sat in the corner of the music room surrounded by confused, yet curious girls. Tamaki, now Hikaru, leaned closer to his "brother" and grabbed hold of Mori-Koaru's arm. "Kaoru, how did you manage to grow so tall?" Tamaki said smoothly.

Mori, with a slightly pained look about him, wedged his foot between his and Tamaki's chair and slowly scooted him away and out of arms reach. Tamaki's face darkened in mock sorrow. "Kaoru, you wound me so! Why so cold, my dear brother?" He tried to reclaim his original spot, but Mori's foot wouldn't budge. Giving up on this method, the former King decided on different tactics. He bounced up and ran over, throwing his arms around Mori's neck, recieving a welcome squeal from his audience for his success. Leaning in and whispering so the girls couldn't hear, he said "Mori, please... I need you to cooperate to pull off my win! Think of Haruhi... PLEASE." Tamaki said the last word loud enough to be heard, and there was a hint of desperation in his voice that did not go unnoticed by either Mori or their growing audience of girls.

"..." Mori sighed, and reached up one long arm to hug Tamaki-Hikaru from below. "...Hikaru..."

"KYYYAAAAAAA!! MOE!!"

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the room, the twins took to their new roles quite swimmingly. Kaoru-turned-Hunny was sitting on a cushy couch wrapped in a plush, pink blanket rubbing his right eye sweetly, wearing a worried expression. His silent counterpart quietly approached the couch with a slice of chocolate cake in one hand.

"Takashi! I can't find Bun-Bun anywhere. I looked in the sweets cupboard, under my blanket, and in the sweets cupboard again, but no Bun-Bun! What should I do? I can't take a nap without him!" Kaoru grabbed hold of the front of his brother's jacket, and then hung his head in a defeated manner. Hikaru, embracing his inner Mori, knelt down and held Kaoru's head up.

"Ah..." was all he said. The circle of customers leaned in closer for a better view of the blooming cousinly love, wringing their handkerchiefs. Hikaru-Mori stood up and turned dramatically to go look for the lost bunny, but was caught by a tearful Kaoru-Hunny.

"Takashi! Don't leave me with Bun-Bun gone, I'm so lonely, PLEASE don't leave me!" He cried, as he rubbed his eyes with both fists. Hikaru returned to his brother's side and put his arm protectively around his shaking shoulders.

"Mitsukuni...I'll be back." Hikaru said in the deepest voice he could muster. The fangirls squealed in pleasure. Hikaru-Mori led his blonde twin back to the sofa, and Kaoru-Hunny sat back down, curling up in the blanket.

"All right." he said forlornly. Hikaru smiled Mori's normal half-smile, and placed the slice of cake down in front of his blonde twin. Kaoru's eyes sparkled as he gazed up at Hikaru as if he had just given him the Hope Diamond. "Thank you Takashi! You always know how to fix things, and I know that you will rescue Bun-Bun from whatever peril he is in!" Kaoru happily took a fork-full of the sweet and popped it in his mouth. "MMMMMMMM!"

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

The real Hunny was sitting at a small square table with two girls and Kasanoda. He was not managing as well as the others were. He was sitting slightly tilted to one side, squished up next to a huge pillow which was concealing his Bun-Bun. He also was starting to look haggard - small circles were beginning to form under his eyes since he had missed his afternoon nap, and was he trying to treat himself with commoner tea. Unfortunately, this did not help his mood. In fact, if anything, it helped to sour it even more. The tea was slightly bitter, and no amount of suger he added could cut the bad taste from his mouth. His new persona, Haruhi, did not enjoy sweets nearly as much as he did (not that many other people do) and Hunny was having a real struggle going without.

"Hunny-senpai, I mean Haruhi-kun, are you all right." Kasanoda asked in a concerned voice, bending forward to look at him from a different angle. Hunny-senpai just didn't look right with the dark brown wig. Cute, he supposed, but not quite right.

"Of course I'm ok, Bossa-nova-kun!" Hunny replied as he lifted his tea cup to his lips, his hand shaking out of pure fear of the taste. Hikaru-Mori suddenly appeared behind Hunny-Haruhi and swiftly grabbed the hidden bunny out from behind the cushion. Hunny froze and then turned his head to look up at his cousin's impostor. "Hika-chan... if you move one step with my Bun-Bun, it will be the last step you take for a long while..." Everyone froze at the sudden the appearance of Dark Hunny. Even Kasanoda, the so-called Human Blizzard, found this change withering.

Hikaru looked terrified for a moment, but then shook his head and replied, "...Ah... Haruhi." He place his hand on top of Hunny's head to ruffle the brown hair, and then disappeared to the other side of the room where he handed the bunny to Kaoru. This seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back. Hunny-Haruhi was engulfed in flames, and slamming the tea cup to the table, he raced across the room with tears welling up in the corner of his eyes, leaving two worried girls and one scared Kasanoda behind.

Mori-Kaoru turned away from an increasingly amorous Tamaki-Hikaru, his stoic face betraying the awkwardness he felt. He saw Hunny-Haruhi running to him, and stood up so fast that Tamaki-Hikaru was left dangling from his neck as he met his cousin with open arms.

"This is no fun at all, Takashi! The tea is awful, and I haven't had my nap... and no... no more cake..." Hunny choked. Mori's eyes widened - he had known that going without would be difficult for Hunny, but he had not been totally prepared for this reaction. He had imagined that Hunny would be too caught up in the charade to really mind. Mori dropped down to one knee and caught Hunny mid-stride, sweeping him up in a bear hug. Tamaki had dropped down to the floor, and easily touched by other's sadness as he was, he put his arm around Hunny's quivering shoulders as well. As Hunny sobbed in their protective hug, the fangirls behind them, and from Hunny-Haruhi's table as well, erupted in flames of moe.

"A three-way love? The brothers have accepted another into their love, and it is none other than the sweet Haruhi-kun!? Oh, I could eat a whole bag of rice!!" Renge was on the verge of otaku-induced seizures at this point. She was occupying herself by announcing this most recent event on the microphone that she seemed to always carry on her person for just such occasions. "Oh, but what will the rejected Kasanoda think of this?" All eyes turned to the redheaded yakuza, who suddenly turned the same shade as his hair. He decided this would be as good a time as any to drop off his vote (for Haruhi herself, of course) and leave for the day.

Meanwhile, Tamaki had overheard Renge's speculations, and realized that this was indeed, his ticket to the win. He leaned down to Mori, who was still comforting a disdraught Hunny, and whispered his new plan. "Hunny can come spend the rest of the afternoon with us, and we'll pretend that the three of us are having some sort of love-affair." Mori's eyebrows shot up into his wig - this was getting to be entirely too much for him.

"... I don't think..."

"I'll get to hang out with you two? I won't have to be alone over there?" Hunny still looked slightly worn as he looked up from Mori's shoulder, but he was already visibly happier at this new development. "Takashi, thats already much better than what I've been doing all day. I don't know how Haruhi does it, all alone all day, with no cake..."

"Trust me, senpais, this will be the best way to secure the win. For Haruhi!"

"For Haruhi!" And the fangirls erupted into squeals as 'Kaoru' carried a surprisingly cuddly 'Haruhi' back to the tea table, where he tucked into a bowl of strawberries that 'Hikaru' had fetched from the back. And from across the room, the blonde Shadow King took a mental note of how all the others seemed to be teaming up. Losing was unacceptable, especially given what was at stake. _Very well_, he thought. _ If its war with an Ootori they want, its war with an Ootori they'll get._

--

Author's Note: UPDATE The illustration for this chapter has been posted on deviantart. I can't post a link on this story for whatever reason, so here's the address. Just copy and paste it, then delete all the spaces. http : / / melovedogboy . deviantart . com /art/Cosplay-97239870


	5. Ch 5 A Dark Prince Pt 2

Ch

Author's Note: For future reference...

_Thoughts _

Emphasis (or EMPHASIS)

**Speaking in unison** - used mostly for twins

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran or any of it's characters - the lovely and talented Ms. Bisco Hatori does. I simply borrowed them for a story that it meant to entertain, so please enjoy, but don't copy or sue! Thank you :D

--

Ch. 5

A Dark Prince (Continued)

--

In retrospect, maybe that third cake wasn't the best idea.

Oh, sure, the sugar high following the second cake was brilliant, and had helped Kaoru stay in character better than he had imagined. But that third cake was turning out to be his downfall. He had transitioned from bouncing off the walls and snuggling in the laps of various squealing fangirls to sitting rather quietly and looking pale. He poked sadly at the half eaten slice of chocolate cake still sitting in front of him and suppressed the urge to gag. Hikaru, sitting next to him just as quietly, was also starting to feel the strain of his role. Hikaru was not known for his seriousness, nor his silence, and he was starting to wonder if he would still have a voice if he opened his mouth to speak.

"Oooh... I don't think I'm feeling too good, Hi-, I mean, Takashi." Hikaru looked up from his teacup and saw that, indeed, his twin was now a delicate shade of green. Forgetting his role entirely, Hikaru was out of his chair and at Kaoru's side in a flash.

"What do you need? What can I get for you? Did you eat too much?? I'm so sorry, I should have stopped you after you finished that last cake..." Hikaru's concern for his brother had clearly overtaken his desire to win this challenge. However, the fangirls seemed willing to overlook a very talkative Mori in favor of this new, blossoming cousinly love.

"Poor Hunny-senpai..."

"Oh, Mori-kun is so concerned! How sweet..."

"I don't know, maybe just some water... urp... oooh..." Kaoru was looking dangerously close to getting rid of that last piece of cake the hard way. Hikaru snatched a wastebasket from the wall and got it back to Kaoru just in time.

The fangirls seemed less willing to overlook this new aspect of the sweet-loving Hunny. "Ugh... SO not cute..."

--

"I've never seen Haruhi take a nap before."

"Oh, but it was so sweet when he was snuggling with Kaoru like that!" The fangirls on the opposite wall were having similar conflicts of interest with the 'twins' and 'Haruhi'. This had mostly to do with the fact that not only had Hunny-Haruhi finally succumbed to exhaustion, but that he had done in with his head on Mori-Kaoru's knee. Once his cousin had dozed off, Mori had gathered him into his arms and bundled him into his usual sleeping place in the quietest corner of the Third Music Room.

"Oh... Hikaru-kun looks jealous..." The clients twittered excitedly behind their hands as Tamaki-Hikaru sat steaming in a chair near the tall frosted windows. He glared across the room at Mori, who had discarded his red wig and had deposited himself in a cushy chair a few yards from where his cousin lay sleeping. He had a book open in his hands and seemed to be reading. However, a few moments ago when Tamaki had approached him about taking up the wig now that Hunny was safely tucked in, the stern, silent glare that met him was anything but casual. Mori was standing guard, and would not be budged, and the hard set of his mouth left no room for argument. Tamaki-Hikaru sulked on his chair, ignoring his increasingly dissatisfied customers. This was not going according to plan. He was silently considering pulling off his own wig and giving up, but then Haruhi-Kyoya caught his eye as she crossed the room with a cup of tea for Mori. A new idea dawned on him as he watched Mori nod in thanks to a raven-haired Haruhi, and as she walked back in Tamaki's direction, he bounded across the floor to meet her.

"Ha- I mean, Kyoya, I need you to help me host!"

"What? You host alone all the time, what do you need me for?"

"But these designators want to see some sort of boy love - and Mori-senpai isn't cooperating and Honey-senpai is asleep, so I have nothing. Come on, just be my foil for this and I promise I'll make it up to you!"

"No."

"Why not!"

Haruhi shrugged and pushed the borrowed spectacles up her nose, making Tamaki very uncomfortable as he remembered that she was, indeed, the Dark Lord #3. "Lots of reasons, not the least of which is that Kyoya would never participate in such a thing. I have to stay in character, too, you know. Besides, I'd prefer to watch all this, anyway."

"What! You like watching us fail? Look at Kaoru! He's had his head in a bucket for the last 15 minutes, Mori and Honey are out of commission entirely, and I'm practically dead in the water! How cruel!" The redheaded Host King cringed away, thinking that Haruhi was certainly not cute when she was behaving like Kyoya.

Exasperated, she rolled her eyes. "I didn't mean you."

"Then what are you talking about?"

Haruhi pointed to a crowd of yellow surrounding a long sofa across the room. Tamaki followed her finger and turned ash-white at what he saw.

Kyoya had those girls eating out of the palm of his hand. Literally. Currently, he was feeding one of his clients cake from his fork, all the while cooing sweet nothings in her ear. His clients were ecstatic - many of them were shrieking in pleasure over things he wasn't even saying to them in particular. He was performing so well, in fact, that some of the more dissatisfied customers were drifting from their assigned hosts and joining the bustling group clustered around Kyoya-Tamaki. _Everything is going according to plan... now to up the ante._ Kyoya had been watching the girl on his left for several minutes - she was so distracted that she was barely paying attention to the fact that she was still holding a teacup. She had a tendency to tremble when he brushed his arm against her, and so he had done this several times (accidentally, of course). According to his calculations, one more casual brush should cause her to drop the tea entirely. Sure enough, it was, and a great gasp went up from the crowd as she dumped the warm tea all over his arm and shoulder. Kyoya-Tamaki put on a flawless show of surprised, but chivalrous forgiveness. _Perfect.. now I have just the excuse I need._

Out of the cloud of yellow rose a tall blonde in a blue blazer, and as he turned towards Haruhi-Kyoya and Tamaki-Hikaru, they saw that the front of his jacket was drenched with tea. Both of the other hosts watched in amazement, along with the excited girls, as Kyoya peeled off the wet jacket and draped it over the back of the sofa, then rolled up his sleeves slightly and settled back down, with two thrilled clients on either side of him. Tamaki was aghast - not only had Kyoya far surpassed him in this game, and wooed his, HIS, clients (and everyone else's from the look of it), but now he was taking off his clothes! Snapping himself out of his shock, he stormed across the room to yell at Kyoya.

"What on earth going on?!"

"Ah, Hikaru. Daddy's just enjoying the company of these beautiful ladies." Kyoya loosened his tie and pulled it off. He tossed it lazily over one shoulder, where it was immediately caught, and then fought over by several smitten fangirls. He ignored the sounds of a muffled catfight as he began unbuttoning his shirt.

"What do you think you're doing! Put your clothes back on!"

"But there's tea on them! I can't wear them." But he did stop about halfway down, leaving only a strip of bare chest showing. This was just enough to stop the tug-of-war over his tie, and bring the girls crowding back around the sofa, leaving the now-forgotten prize on the floor. "Stop yelling, Hikaru, honestly. And shouldn't you be calling me 'Tono'? Or 'King'? I go by that here, you know..."

"It's the middle of winter! You can't walk around like that - it... it's indecent!"

"Ah, yes, but I have all these lovely princesses to keep me warm." He snaked an arm around the shoulders of the girls sitting on either side of him on the long sofa and gently squeezed them closer. They squealed with delight as he grinned up at a livid Tamaki-Hikaru. _Acting like this is totally worth seeing the tormented look on Tamaki's face. Merits, indeed..._

"That's cheating! You're playing dirty, Kyoya!"

"Oh, you're talking to Kyoya? Mother's over there." He indicated Haruhi-Kyoya with a wave of his hand.

"No, I'm talking to you, you greedy..." Tamaki opened his mouth to continue his tirade, but he was interrupted by a hand on his arm.

"Now, now, Hikaru..." Haruhi had been watching all this from a safe distance, and seeing Tamaki's temper escalate, she decided that it would be a good time to intervene. "You have clients waiting on you. Lets not disturb Tamaki any further." She turned Tamaki-Hikaru by the sleeve and started to lead him back to his corner, where several impatient girls were waiting with their arms crossed. She lowered her voice. "Alright, I'll come and take over some of your customers, but there is no way you're getting any dramatic acts from me. I'll just play as Kyoya, got it?" Tamaki spluttered, too angry to answer. She angled him back towards his clients and gave him a gentle push to get him started. She paused for a moment, and stooped to pick up Kyoya's tie from the floor, and holding it gently in one hand, turned back to the crowd surrounding Kyoya-Tamaki. "By the way, ladies, this will be on auction online tomorrow, should any of you be interested." She flipped the tie over her shoulder as Kyoya raised one eyebrow at her retreating back. He chuckled to himself as he turned back to his adoring crowd. _She's good._

--

At the end of the afternoon, the Host Club customers were gathered in excited clumps in the center of the room, where Renge had taken it upon herself as the club's (assistant) manager to tally up the final votes. She squealed to herself now and then, but with great effort, kept herself quiet about how the votes were shaping up. The Hosts themselves had more or less resumed their natural personas. Kaoru had recovered from his cake binge, and although he still looked slightly pale, he snuggled up to his once-again chatty brother as the two of them began teasing Tamaki about his poor performance.

"Ooh, that little pile there must be yours, Tono." Began Hikaru.

"I knew he wouldn't be able to come off convincingly as you." Kaoru added.

"**Loser." **They both made a face at a pouting Tamaki, who had finally removed his red wig and was trying very hard not to concentrate on Renge, hoping she would give some clue as to how the results were going. Haruhi had removed her Kyoya wig, but kept his glasses on for the time being, as she had not had a chance to go to the prep room and put in her contacts. Kyoya had buttoned up his shirt, but as he had no spare coat or tie handy, stood in his shirt sleeves, looking more like himself without the blonde wig on his head. It did not escape his attention, or that of the other hosts, that several of the fangirls were stealing glances at him, seeming to like this new, casual Kyoya even more than his princely impersonation. Hunny had woken up from his nap a while ago, and was once again perched on Mori's shoulders, cuddling Bun-Bun and munching on a cookie as though to make up for lost time.

"Aha! I'm finally finished!" Renge's voice halted all whispers and teasing in the room as everyone turned their full attention to her. "O-hohohoho... this is too good! I will now announce the standings, but as a quick reminder, the winning host will get to choose another host to spend a day alone with. Oh, I can't wait to see who he chooses! Alright, starting with last place, we have... Mori-senpai."

Mori had expected as much, and barely nodded his head at all as a smattering of sympathetic applause rose from the gathered girls.

"Next, in fifth place, we have Hunny-senpai." Tears welled up in Hunny's eyes as several of his devoted fans clustered around Mori and reached up towards their favorite host, cooing and offering bits of cake they had saved for him. His face lit up as Renge went on.

"In fourth place we have Tamaki-senpai."

"WHAT?! That can't be right! That's impossible!"

"Calm down, senpai. Don't be such a sore loser." Haruhi jerked his sleeve to stop his tantrum, and Tamaki turned to her with hurt in his eyes. He retreated to his corner as Haruhi rolled her eyes and turned back to Renge.

"Third place, Haruhi-kun! I'm so sorry, Haruhi-kun! I voted for you!" Haruhi shrugged. She had figured that she wouldn't win, but she was secretly very glad that she had at least managed to do better than Tamaki.

"And now, second place..." everyone, including the Hosts, leaned in slightly to hear these results. The Hitachiins and Kyoya were all that were left, and the afternoon had gone so unexpectedly that they felt as though this might be anyone's game.

"... Hikaru-kun and Kaoru-kun! Which makes Kyoya-kun our winner!" A loud cheer went up from a large percentage of the fangirl crowd, and Kyoya was mobbed by his new, large fan base. Although not used to it, he managed to keep them under control, and as he graciously accepted their congratulations, he glanced over their heads at Tamaki in his corner. The Host Club king was deathly pale, and his jaw dropped nearly to the floor. Haruhi was laughing behind her hand as the twins spluttered, shocked that they had been beaten. Hunny leaned down to whisper in his cousin's ear.

"I wonder who Kyou-chan will choose?" Mori cocked his head and shrugged in response to his cousin's comment, and then lifted him down as he left to start tidying up and ushering everyone out, as the Host Club had already been open longer than usual. It had been a long day.

--

"Kyoya, what would you like to do on your day off? Something cheap perhaps?" Tamaki wheedled.

Kyoya shrugged noncommittally. He was in the process of taking out his contacts and was slightly irritated that his friend had managed to recover so quickly from his shock that he had lost to Kyoya. He didn't wear contacts often, and taking them out was trickier than he had remembered. Haruhi was leaning against the counter nearby, her own contacts already back in, and Kyoya's glasses in her hand as she waited to hand them back to him.

"Well, I'm all for just having a relaxing day."

"Hn." Kyoya was listening, but only with half an ear as he managed to get the stubborn, slippery lens out of his eye and back into its case. He reached back up to begin removing the other one. He prided himself on being very sensible and practical, and he would never admit to anyone that touching his own eyeballs creeped him out. That was why he preferred his glasses - so he wouldn't have to deal with it. Plus, it was so much faster to deal with - on in the morning, off at night, none of this squeamish insertion and unsanitary removal when he was exhausted or half-asleep. He had a hard time keeping himself from squeezing his eyes shut to keep his fingers out, and so was trying to ignore Tamaki as the blonde hovered over his shoulder, prattling on and on.

"Maybe go sightseeing, or maybe go see a movie in one of those commoner cinemas. I've always wanted to try that. Should I look for tickets to a monster movie? Or what? We should absolutely go see a movie, Kyoya." Tamaki was trying desperately to convince Kyoya to choose an inexpensive activity, to spare Haruhi from as much additional debt as possible.

Exasperated with this distraction, Kyoya finally spoke. "Who said I was taking you?"

He was met with stunned silence, not just from Tamaki, but everyone in the back room. All of them assumed that if Kyoya had to choose any of them to spend additional time with, it would be his best friend. Tamaki, finally finding his voice, asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "Then who are you taking?"

"Haruhi."

"**WHAT?" **Three freshman and one blonde junior stared in shock at their cool companion, who was proving to be full of surprises today.

Kyoya smiled as he finally got the second lens out, and reached for his glasses, taking them from Haruhi's stunned hands and pushing them up his nose with a sly grin. "Mother-daughter bonding, you know."

--

Author's Note - Yay! Chapter 5 if finally finished! I'm sorry that it took me so long, and thank you all for being so patient! I just wanted to take a moment and say thanks to all the people who've read and reviewed the story so far. As a side note, I have had a few comments that Kyoya seems to be OOC - and I agree that he is acting differently than canon. I tried hard to keep him as true to his character as possible. However, I intended to explore some aspects of his personality that you don't see - I sort of do that with some of the other characters as well. I really hope that although it may be sort of out-of-character, that it's still believable, and that it doesn't ruin the story for anyone :-( That would make me so sad. Anyways, enjoy! And please review! I live on feedback.


	6. Ch 6 Vacation

DISCLAIMER - I do not own ouran or any of its characters - the lovely and talented Ms. Bisco Hatori does. i merely borrow them for stories that are meant to entertain, so please don't copy or sue!

Author's Note: For future reference...

_Thoughts _

Emphasis (or EMPHASIS)

**Speaking in unison** - used mostly for twins

Ch. 6

Vacation

--

"Oh, you're taking my sweet, brilliant daughter on a trip? She deserves to take a break - my poor Haruhi works so hard." Ranka's ebullience was easily apparent, even over the phone. "It seems that she never does anything but study. She really needs a day off away from all her books. But I'm sure that I don't have to tell you, Kyoya-kun, that she won't like it."

"That's just fine. She knows that she doesn't have a choice. By the way, does she have anything suitable to wear dancing? In a nightclub?"

"Dancing! Oh, how fun! Let me think...no... no, I don't think she does... but I suppose I could just pack something of mine for her."

Kyoya raised an eyebrow. "...Why don't I send something over for you to pack for her? And don't tell her that I called you. It's a surprise. Thank you, Ranka-san, but I have to go." Kyoya snapped his cell phone shut just as Haruhi walked up. They were standing in the courtyard on the last day of finals, and a light layer of snow covered the ground.

"Ah, hello, Haruhi-kun."

"Hi, Kyoya-senpai. How were your finals?"

"Just fine. And I trust yours were the same?"

"Yeah. So, where are we going on this day off? I mean, I appreciate that you waited until finals were over - I really needed the study time. But you still haven't told me where we're going."

"Ah, well, I didn't want to bore you with details during finals. But I'm afraid that I still can't tell you. I don't want the rest of the Host Club catching wind of our destination. Unless, of course, you would like them to join us."

Haruhi reflected quickly on the last week, during which neither Tamaki nor the twins had given her any peace, begging to be told where she was going with Kyoya. "No, I could use a break from them."

"As could I. Well, I'll pick you up in the morning, and we'll be off. Ranka will have a bag packed for you."

"A bag? What will I need a bag for? We're only going to be gone for a day, right?"

"Yes. There happen to be 24 hours in a day, so you'll need an overnight bag."

Haruhi groaned. "Ugh... Can I opt out of this trip?"

"Of course you could, but then I would have to choose another guest, and then you would have to chip in for our vacation day. It would, of course, add to your debt, and I don't think you would appreciate that. So you can choose - come with me on this trip, or possibly double your debt. I'm not so bad that you don't want to spend a whole day with me, am I?" Kyoya paused for a second, and when Haruhi said nothing, he continued hurriedly. "Well, its only one day. I'm sure you'll appreciate having a break from school and the Host Club, even if you are stuck with me all day." He shrugged, and turned to leave. Although he didn't show it, her lack of response wounded him. Did she really dislike him that much?

"Wait! Senpai..." He turned back, keeping his face carefully blank.

"Yes?"

"I just had one other question. Why did you choose me, senpai?"

Kyoya considered for a moment. He couldn't tell her that it was because he was dying for a chance to be with her, just with her, to try to make her see him differently, and to get her to like him, too. "I know a bad business decision when I see one - if you had to pay for two of us to take a day off, you would be so far in debt that you wouldn't be able to pay it off before you graduated. What would be the point of that? Besides, who else would I choose? The twins never go anywhere without each other, and neither do Mori-senpai and Hani-senpai. As for Tamaki, I see him enough as it is. And wouldn't really be a vacation for me if I took him along. So all that was left is you."

"Gee, thanks, senpai, I'm flattered." She said sarcastically.

"One more thing before we leave, Haruhi."

"What?"

"We're not at school, so you don't have to call me 'senpai.' Just 'Kyoya' will be appropriate."

"Oh." Haruhi seemed slightly taken aback by this. Kyoya was usually so proper and formal. He seemed to her to be the last one who would ask her to drop this formality. Yet as he stood there in front of her, his face unreadable, she knew he was serious. He really did want her to be more familiar. Strange... she didn't understand it. "Um, sure... Kyoya."

He raised the corner of his mouth his is usual smirking smile, his spirits slightly lifted. "Alright then, I'll see you in the morning."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

The next day, the two of them sat in the back of a black, cushy car as it cruised away from the airport and into the main part of Sendai, Japan. The plane ride had been short, and Kyoya had refused to tell Haruhi where they were going until the plane was in the air. It had been a hard half hour for Haruhi - she had nearly gotten out of her seat to strangle Kyoya out of pure frustration. She had finally launched into a very uncharacteristic tirade about how this was as good as kidnapping, that she had every right to know how long she was going to be in the air, and how Kyoya was just as bad as the rest of the Host Club. Kyoya had endured this all with his usual air of maddening patience. He only protested at her comparison with Tamaki, and from that point they had sat in awkward, irritated silence. They were still barely talking as the powerful car took whisked them through traffic. Kyoya was beginning to feel as though he had done this wrong - he had hoped that Haruhi would be pleased that it was all a surprise, but he had misjudged her. He felt like kicking himself - _of course she wouldn't like surprises, she's so practical. You idiot, you've screwed it up before it even began._

"So, what are we doing in Sendai, anyway?" He was jolted out of his sulk by Haruhi, who had been feeling just as guilty on her side of the car. After all, Kyoya had made an effort to do something nice for her. _Well, not exactly for me, really. It was a business decision. But at least now I know he's not TRYING to keep me in debt. So, for Kyoya, it was a nice thing._

Kyoya took heart from this - she was talking to him again. "It's very scenic here on the northeast coast."

"Is it? I can't tell from here - it just looks like any other city." Haruhi turned back to the window.

He slumped back against the seat, losing hope again. "Well, once we get out of the city, it's scenic."

"So you've been here before?"

"Only once."

"What for?"

"You'll see." He smiled at Haruhi's reflection in the window as he stared out at the busy street.

"Not more surprises, senpai." She groaned.

"I know, but I expect you'll like it, so please bear with me," he said gently. She turned from the window to look at his profile. It was unusual for him to speak to her this way - it was unsettling, in a way, but somehow... comforting. "It's not too far now. And please, don't call me senpai."

She sighed. She wasn't sure what was going on with Kyoya's softening attitude towards her, and it was disconcerting. But she wasn't going to argue. "Alright."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Wow..."

"What did I tell you?"

"...wow..." Haruhi was stunned. They had left the bustling city behind and were now cruising through some of the most beautiful countryside she had ever seen. Rolling mountains rose from the misty snow around them, and in the distance she could just make out the ocean, flecked with little, white, snow-covered islands and ships. The trees looked as though they were covered in white icing, and as they pulled up to a traditional onsen and hotel, she thought she might have stepped into a fairy tale. Kyoya regarded her from his side of the seat. He knew how difficult it was to impress Haruhi with anything, especially something beautiful. He was pleased with himself - there might be a chance yet that he could salvage this trip.

"What is this place?"

"A hot spring - I told you that we should go someplace to relax after finals. What better place than an onsen?"

"Does your family own this place, Kyoya?"

"No, actually. Since we're traveling at the Host club's expense this time, I thought we should go someplace else. After all, they can afford it. So, what do you say to a massage, then a soak in the hot springs?"

She blinked up at the tall young man. She had never had a massage, and it wasn't really her cup of tea, but since they were here... "Sure, why not."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

As she lay face-down on the table, Haruhi realized what she had been missing. This was wonderful. The masseuse massaged all the kinks out of her back and neck, and she was helping her stretch out her shoulders. Haruhi had kept herself quiet up until now, but the rolling muscles in her shoulder felt so good that she let out a tiny moan.

"Enjoying yourself?" asked a slightly muffled voice.

Here eyes popped open. "Kyoya?" She scrabbled for the sheet to cover herself, since she was lying naked on the massage table. She heard Kyoya chuckle.

"I'm in the next room, calm down." She looked around, but all she saw was the masseuse, who was trying very hard not to smile. Indeed, she was the only other person in the room. She looked over at the nearest wall, the general direction of his voice. The onsen was traditionally built, so some of the interior walls were made of paper screens and shoji doors. This wall was one of them, and their voices could travel right through it.

"Oh," she felt very silly as she settled back down and let the masseuse continue. "Yes, thank you." Just then she heard a quick succession of rippling pops, followed by a deep groan. It was her turn to laugh. "Was that your back?"

"Mm-hmm."

She laid quietly for a few moments, enjoying her massage, until her curiosity got the better of her. "So, tell me, how did you know about this place?"

Kyoya was in a very relaxed mood, so he didn't hesitate to answer. "My sister brought me here last year, just before she got married. I was spending a lot of time with her before the wedding, helping her plan, so she brought me here as sort of a thank you. Something about her favorite little brother or some nonsense." He snorted. "What a silly thing to say. I'm her only younger brother."

Haruhi giggled. "It must be nice to have a sister. Brothers, too, for that matter. It was just me and my parents for a while, and now it's just Dad and I. He had to work a lot, and, well... you know my dad. I'll never have siblings." In the other room, Kyoya turned his head to listen to her better. "I know that you and your brothers are very competitive, and you have high standards to live up to, but you're all in it together, and at least you had people to grow up with."

"Not really. My sister is ten years older than I am, and the younger of my two brothers is just out of med school. I am the youngest by far, and so I wasn't very close to my brothers growing up. I suppose I'm closest to my sister. And, she can be rather bothersome. Before she got married, she practiced being a good housewife on me. Why, I'll never understand - her husband is wealthy, and she has servants in her new home, just like we do. But I had to taste her cooking, and let her re-arrange my clothes. My room was a mess for months because of her cleaning. But..." he paused. He realized that he had never talked about his family to Haruhi, or to anyone besides Tamaki, really.

On her side of the wall, Haruhi smiled. "You miss her, right?"

"Not really. She calls me quite often, so I don't have the chance."

"It must be nice, though. To have someone to talk to."

"I suppose."

"I wish that I had someone like that." He heard her sigh softly.

"But you do..." It was out of his mouth before he knew it. He stopped himself quickly, sensing her puzzlement from the other side of the wall. Kyoya clamped his mouth shut and thought the last part to himself. _You have me. You'll always have me, Haruhi._

--

Author's note: Hooray, a twofer! Thanks again to all readers, and especially to all reviewers. I love getting feedback - its a huge help, and all I ask it to please, be gentle. I'm still new at this. Oh, and just to let you all know, this story is actively being written, and I don't know how it ends yet. I have about 20 chapters either finished or outlined, but sadly, I don't write them in order, so there are some gaps that have to be filled before I can post certain parts of this story. So, unfortunately there's no guarantees on how long it may or may not take me (hopefully not too long) So I think what I'll have to do it post just two at a time or so, so that I can give myself time to write more. So please enjoy what I have, and reviews are very welcome! hint hint, nudge nudge, wink wink

Oh, and my imouto (little sister) is working on illustrations for these chapters. Several have been completed, and the links are at the end of each chapter. I will post the links for the others as soon as they are finished, because, just as I am actively writing the story, she is actively illustrating it. I love her work, and I think that her illustrations make the story come alive!


	7. Ch 7 Amends

DISCLAIMER - I do not own ouran or any of its characters - the lovely and talented Ms. Bisco Hatori does. i merely borrow them for stories that are meant to entertain, so please don't copy or sue!

Author's Note: For future reference...

_Thoughts _

Emphasis (or EMPHASIS)

**Speaking in unison** - used mostly for twins

Ch. 7

Amends

--

Haruhi sat at the kotatsu in her room, sipping hot tea as she gazed out the window at the blanket of snow outside. It was pristine and beautiful, and from the muted gray color of the sky, it looked as though it would snow more later that night. She reached up and rubbed the towel on her head, drying her hair a bit more. This day had been full of new things - her massage had been wonderful, and sitting in a hot spring outside in the snow was something she had never experienced before. It was a strange sensation to have your ears and nose be chilled while the rest of your body was roasting warm. And then, getting out of the water was a challenge in itself - the cold air hit her wet skin like a blizzard, and she was grateful for the thick, plush towels and robe that were waiting in a basket next to the pool's edge. She had not seen (or heard) much of Kyoya since the massage, since the springs were segregated. She had thought she could hear him on the other side of the dividing wall between the pools, but she couldn't be sure if it was him or another guest, so she had said nothing. She had just laid in the water, submerging as much of herself as she could and thinking.

Kyoya had never struck her as the type of person who could really relax - she knew that no one could really maintain the appearance he did at all times, but it was still strange for her to think that he really gained so much pleasure in something as simple as this. _Well, simple for a rich guy, anyway. He really seems ... happy? Maybe it's just because he doesn't have the rest of the Host Club here to baby-sit._ She smiled, _Kyoya really is like their mother, in a way. He's most responsible one in the group, and he takes care of all the planning, plus supervising everyone. Reliable, but no-nonsense._

She thought how the more time she spent with him, the more she realized what a nice person he really was. And no matter how much he may have insisted to her in the past that he was really just an egotistical jerk, she knew better. Even though he could, indeed, be very intimidating, and was not at all above being manipulative or using thinly veiled threats, she knew there was another side to his coin. He made it very easy to forget that he was, after all, only seventeen. He was so cool and sophisticated, and yet... she had seen the lengths he was willing to go to for the people close to him. Despite his claims that he never did anything unless it held merits for him, and that was the reason that he was willing to let the other Hosts see his 'true nature', that of a greedy Shadow King, Haruhi could tell there was much more to him than that. There was a strong drive in him that she could relate to - he may be rich, but it seemed that his odds of becoming his father's successor, with two outstanding older brothers, was more unlikely than her odds of becoming a lawyer. All that was standing in the way of her dream was lack of money, and that could be fixed with hard work. Kyoya, on the other hand... he was up against far more intangible things. Tradition, and the standards of his family would seem insurmountable to most people, but Kyoya just took it all in stride, and calmly decided that nothing would stand in his way. As terrifying as he could be on occasion, Haruhi had to admit that she sensed a kindred spirit in him - someone smart, driven, a hard worker, and someone who wouldn't let other people's opinions stop them from attaining their goals. It seemed that no matter how many times she had seen his dark side, or the rare occasions that she saw his kind side, that it only made her want to spend more time with him, to see more of what he was like.

She was snapped out her thoughts by a soft knock on her door. "May I come in?" Kyoya asked from outside.

"Sure, come on."

Kyoya opened the door and stepped in, a towel over his head as well. Haruhi greeted him with a smile, which he returned, somewhat hesitantly. No matter how much he prepared himself to be near her, she could always get to him with that soft, easy smile. He straightened up, and opened the door wide. "I thought you might be hungry, so I ordered room service." Haruhi was startled as two waiters walked in, each carrying a tray of food. They spread the dishes out on the table in front of her, and her mouth began to water. There was a large dish of piping hot stew, and another dish of fresh sushi, including her favorite, ootoro. There was even a platter of fresh strawberries and melons, beautiful and vibrant in their colors. She was speechless as Kyoya thanked the waiters and shut the door behind them as they left. He turned back to her, and suppressed the urge to laugh at the expression of pure delight on her face. He had never known anyone who took so much pleasure in good food. Although he was outwardly irritated with Tamaki's melodramatic statement that Haruhi should always have such good food, and should always be this happy, he agreed wholeheartedly. It cheered him in a way he couldn't describe to see her so thrilled. "I expected that you wouldn't mind if I ordered for you. Do you like it?"

"Oh yes! But, how did you get such fresh fruit at this time of year?"

"Well, its in season in other parts of the world, so it was just a matter of finding the right supplier and having it sent here..."

"You mean you special-ordered this? You had it sent here before we even arrived?" Haruhi looked up from her half-eaten strawberry. "How long have you been planning this, Kyoya?"

"Oh, not long." Kyoya folded himself up and sat down next to Haruhi, tucking his legs under the blanket of the kotatsu, pleased with the added warmth. "May I? Unless you plan to eat all that food yourself."

"Oh, right...sorry."

They ate in companionable silence, only commenting on the food or occasionally asking the other to pass something. Kyoya kept stealing furtive glances at Haruhi, thinking that he had successfully recovered from the awkwardness that morning. Things were shaping up nicely, and as they both finished the main dishes and moved on to the fruit, their towels still draped around their necks, he thought that he would still have his chance to tell her how he felt that night.

"Mm... these strawberries are perfect. How's the melon? It's your favorite, isn't it, Kyoya?"

He blinked and looked up, halfway through a mouthful of what was, indeed, his favorite fruit. He swallowed, "Indeed it is. How did you know?"

"Well, you had to special order this, right? And this is the only thing that isn't specifically one of my favorite foods. I mean," she rushed, not wanted to sound spoiled, "I like them, they're delicious. And besides, that day at the mall, the snacks that you picked up for the other hosts were all melon-flavored. So, they must be your favorite. Right?"

He allowed himself to smile at her. "Well done. I knew you were smart; I should have guessed that you would figure it out." She smiled back, slightly flattered that Kyoya, possibly the most intelligent person she knew, had complimented her like that.

"Well, senpa...er, sorry, Kyoya, what did you have planned for the rest of the night?"

"What makes you think I have anything else planned?" He chuckled as she raised her eyebrow and looked at him knowingly. "Alright, alright. I thought we would head back down into the city and go out dancing."

Haruhi was so shocked she almost fell over. "Dancing? Kyoya, really?" She was having trouble picturing him dancing anything other than a waltz.

"Would you not like to go? Because I'm afraid I'll have to pull rank on you there, since it is MY vacation, after all."

"No, no, that's not it. I just never pictured you as much of a dancer. And, well, I've never been. I don't think I'll be very good at it."

"To be honest, neither have I. But my sister has been hassling me lately about getting out and doing 'fun' things like other people my age. She's been very insistent..." She really had been, but he didn't want to tell her that he really had been dying to try it, especially with her, so this little fabrication seemed the next best thing. "So I thought I would bring you along, since I can't really go alone. And this seemed the best time; since we're not at home, we're unlikely to run into anyone who knows us, so you can feel free to dress as a girl. Plus the Host Club isn't here either, so if we're not any good at it, it can be our little secret." He winked at her.

She considered him for a moment. Apart from the wink, this sounded slightly more like the Kyoya she knew. "Alright. I'm not sure that I have anything to wear, though."

"I'm sure you do. Let me see what you have."

Haruhi got up and dug through her suitcase, pulling out jeans, sweaters, nothing suitable for a night out, until she found an unfamiliar package wrapped in tissue paper. "What is this?" She returned to the table, set it down, and carefully tore into it, revealing something deep purple, along with black tights and a white belt. Kyoya leaned over to look at it as well - he had not seen it yet. She pulled it out and held it up to her, and turned around to face him. The dress was a color that suited her well; somewhat short, but not too short, and looked like it had a wide neck. "Where did this come from? I don't recognize it at all - its not something I would normally wear."

"You should thank me. Ranka wanted to pack you something of her own."

"You? You picked this out?" Haruhi suppressed a chuckle. "I didn't know you shopped for girls clothes..."

He frowned. "Ranka said she would pack something of her own for you, but I thought that you would rather have something else. I asked my sister, she picked something out for you; we had it sent to your house, and Ranka packed it for you." He sat up slightly and straightened his glasses. "I do NOT shop for girl's clothes."

She continued to chuckle, and looked down at the dress. The material felt wonderful between her fingers, and it was a gorgeous color. "Well, thank your sister for me. It's very nice."

Kyoya stood up and turned to leave. "Well, I'll leave you to get ready. I need to get ready myself. I can't exactly wear this out dancing, not when you're going to be all dressed up." He indicated his clothes, a loose gray t-shirt and jeans. "Just come and get me when you're ready to go."

"Alright, I'll see you in a bit." _Dancing with Kyoya... this should be interesting._

--

Author's Note: I know, I know, this chapter's pretty fluffy, and not a whole lot happens, but things get rolling again in the next chapter. And I apologize for this chapter being a bit shorter than the others (only 4 1/2 pages instead of my usual 6 :p). Oh, and I just wanted to clarify my timeline. Since the timeline of events isn't really clear in the anime, or the manga (they jump from season to season quite a bit with no one ever graduating), I have kind of decided that most major events have happened before this story. For example, the beach house, the mall excursion, Kasanoda, Renge, pretty much everything except the anime finale. I love the manga, too, but it just seemed to work out that this story is mostly Anime-centric. Oh well - there's a few manga references - mostly that any time Haruhi has a question, Kyoya is magically by her side (I think that's so cute!) I'm working on Ch. 8 right now, so I hope this will tide you over until then. And, as always, please enjoy, and remember, I live off reviews!! - 3 htac


	8. Ch 8 Cut Loose

_Thoughts_

_Emphasis (or EMPHASIS)_

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran or any of it's characters - that honor belongs to the lovely and talently Ms. Bisco Hatori. I only borrow them for a story that is meant to entertain, so please, don't copy of sue!

Ch. 8

Cut Loose

--

Kyoya was pulling a red t-shirt over his head when he heard a knock at the door. He tugged it down into place and grabbed his glasses as he crossed the room to open it for her. He looked down at himself, realizing that this shirt was entirely too tight. He would have to wear another shirt over it or run the risk of looking like a total homo. Rolling his eyes, he opened the door, and momentarily forgot to breathe as he saw Haruhi. _...Wow._

The dress fit her perfectly. The intense violet color suited her well, and the shape flattered her slim frame. He could see now that the sleeves were made to sit off-the-shoulder, so both of her shoulders were bare. The white belt cinched the silky material at her narrow waist, and the hem fell to mid thigh. The black tights that accompanied the outfit did not quite reach the bottom of the hem, so there was a very thin strip of skin visible between the two. He took all this in very quickly, and looked back up at her face. Her short hair was tousled, her bangs pinned to the side. He noticed that she was even wearing makeup - not much, but it made her even lovelier. He was speechless.

"Ready to go?" She asked. He shook himself out of his daze and turned quickly, realizing that he had been staring. For her part, she tried not to stare back at his retreating form. That red shirt was very tight. It clung to him like it was wet, and she was able to see his shoulder blades moving under the fabric as he walked away from her. _He really is in great shape_, she thought. _I wonder what he does for exercise - he doesn't seem to be the gym rat type. _He cleared his throat, snapping her out of this highly unexpected train of thought as he dug into his bag and pulled out a black-and-white pinstriped shirt.

"Almost. Just this last thing." He pulled on the button-down shirt, but left it open and rolled the cuffs so they only fell about halfway down his forearm. He turned to Haruhi, and this time allowed himself to really take her in. She looked beautiful - the dress really did suit her. Feminine, but not overdone. And the way it showed just enough skin... "So, how do you like the dress?"

"Oh, it's great, thank you. It fits perfectly. I don't have any other shoes though..." Kyoya followed her gaze to the floor, lingering on her surprisingly long legs until he saw her boots. They were plain black leather boots; not exactly club wear, but they matched the rest of her outfit well. He didn't care much about footwear in general, but these looked fine to him.

"Don't worry about it. You look stunning, Haruhi-san."

She blushed a bright red. He had never complimented her like that. She wasn't sure what to make of it, and she searched for a reply. "Er... thank you. You look good, too." _He really does_, she thought. He was wearing black slacks and shoes, and the black-and-white shirt looked great with the red underneath.

"Thank you. Well, I'm ready." He picked his coat up off the bed and shut the door behind him. He stepped next to Haruhi and offered her his arm, taking her by surprise. "Shall we?" She didn't move for a moment, but then placed her hand through the crook of his elbow and allowed him to lead her out to the waiting car.

He ushered her into the backseat and paused for a moment before getting in. "Excuse me for just a moment, but I have to make a quick call." She nodded, rolling her eyes that he was the same old business-obsessed Kyoya. He shut the door to keep her warm inside, and also to keep her from hearing what he was going to say. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he called information, then the best florist he could find near his sister. "Yes, I would like to send one hundred purple roses to the following address. A card? Yes, include a card that says 'Thank you for the beautiful dress, Fuyumi-neesan. From Kyoya.' Yes, got that?" he frowned at the next question from the salesgirl on the other end. "No, the dress wasn't for me!"

--

Sendai might have looked about like any other city in Japan during the day, but now, driving down a busy street at night in mid-winter, it was transformed. Brightly colored lanterns hung from the fronts of every building, and the sidewalks, surprisingly full of people for such a chilly night, bustled with color and activity. The trees that lined the street were festooned with thousands of tiny lights, making their otherwise dark trunks stand out in sparkling relief. Apparently, the whole city put on a Festival of Starlight in late December, and Kyoya, being as detail-oriented as he was, had known that he would need every little bit of help he could get in setting the scene for this evening. Haruhi didn't seem particularly moved by the lights and lanterns, though she had been slightly more talkative on the drive into the city. If anything, they at least prompted conversation.

"So, I've never been to a nightclub - aren't we underage?"

"I wouldn't worry about it."

"Oh, don't tell me that you made fake I.D.s for us, senpa-" She rolled her eyes and corrected herself as Kyoya cleared his throat. "Sorry, 'Kyoya'."

"I never said that. I just wouldn't worry about it."

Haruhi slouched back against the warm, heated leather of the backseat. "Of course not. You think of everything..." Sarcasm dripped from her every word, but Kyoya chose to ignore it and continue on.

"I try."

"...Rich bastard." She muttered this last part under her breath, but Kyoya's sharp ears picked up on every word. He was not offended - the first part was true, the second was not (for him, anyway), and besides, he knew there was no real malice behind Haruhi's favorite insult.

"We're here." The car glided up smoothly to the curb and stopped outside a large, solid-looking building with no windows. Just a tall set of double doors and a long line of young, bundled-up club goers waiting outside within a set of blue velvet ropes. The sign above the door, lit from behind with blue neon light, said, predictably, 'BLUE'. The tall driver, who seemed to be wearing tinted glasses even though it was dark, appeared at the car door and opened it for his two passengers. Kyoya leaned over and said, "Follow my lead." He slid out of the car first, and held his hand out to Haruhi to help her up. She raised one eyebrow, uncertain what he meant, but took his hand and allowed him to pull her out into the crisp night air. Instead of releasing her, he pulled her along next to him, and led her casually up the front door, bypassing the line entirely. He walked straight up to the largest, bulkiest man that Haruhi had ever seen - he was easily as tall as Mori, but twice as broad. The clipboard that he held in one huge hand looked like a child's toy. Obviously, this doorman was in the right line of work. Though not normally one to be intimidated, Haruhi glanced up at Kyoya for reassurance, and was slightly surprised at what she saw. He had shifted into Host mode - he had that simpering, eager-to-please smile plastered across his face, and she could have sworn he was on his way to selling photo books of the Host Club at the beach to his female classmates rather than confront a huge bouncer. Though this smile usually fooled others, Haruhi could see that it did not match the one around his eyes - that one was filled with arrogant laughter, and the tilt of his jaw was just the same. He strolled along as though he owned the place, and it dawned on her - Kyoya was going to talk their way in.

"Good evening!" Kyoya called out to the doorman as they walked up to the blue velvet rope separating them from the club door. The huge man turned at the sound, and looked down suspiciously at the pair and narrowed his eyes. Rich kids. But then, everyone who came to the club was. There didn't seem to be anything special about these two.

"Are you on the list?" A voice deeper than any bass Haruhi had ever heard boomed out of the doorman's chest. She was starting to get nervous - she felt very out of place, and she new damn well that she wasn't on any list. She gripped Kyoya's hand tightly, and his shoulders stiffened imperceptibly. He flashed her a glance from the corner of his eye, the beginnings of a true smile playing around the edge of his mouth, and she remembered. 'Follow my lead.' Realizing that she needed to play the part as well, she thought back to her imitation of Kyoya over a week before. She tipped her chin up and tried to look lazily important and casually bored. Meanwhile, Kyoya loosened her grip on his hand and readjusted, lacing his fingers through hers and squeezing back, reassuring her as he launched himself into full charm mode. His voice was softer and lighter, and his body was slightly relaxed, giving the impression of being non-threatening while still keeping the same, snobby, rich-kid air.

"Oh, a list? I would doubt it - we didn't really plan on coming, anyway. But I thought since we were in the neighborhood, we would drop by and say hello to Hiro. You probably know him; tell me, is Yasuhiro Kurosawa here tonight?"

"K-Kuro... Kurosawa-sama?!" The doorman's eyebrows shot up his forehead, and he leaned closer to Kyoya, who didn't flinch as the big man drew closer. "You know young master Kurosawa?"

"Oh, goodness yes!" Kyoya laughed and waved his free hand lazily, as if to clear the air. "His beach house in the Caribbean is right next door to mine! I've known him for ages. How is he? It's been a while since I've seen him." The doorman's jaw was on the floor - if this boy had a beach house next door to the one owned by the club owner, and was personally acquainted with his son, then he was in a whole other league of rich kid that what was standing in the line right now.

"Oh, well, Kurosawa-sama isn't here tonight..." The poor doorman was wracking his brain, trying to think if he had seen these kids somewhere before with the Young Master. He wouldn't be doing his job if he couldn't remember a close, personal friend of his boss's son - that kind of oversight could get him fired.

"Oh, that's right! He usually goes to the beach house on winter break, doesn't he, baby?" Kyoya turned to Haruhi, and she blinked at the name he used for her. The pet name made her stomach flop awkwardly, but she didn't know why, just she had to play along. Keeping her bored look on her face, she simply nodded as he forged on. "Oh, what a shame! I had so looked forward to seeing him, and this club! He speaks so highly of this place, and I've just been dying to see it! We stopped by specifically to see him, and I put off the trip to the Caribbean hoping that I might catch him here. Oh well, I'll just have to tell him how sad we were to have missed him. Well, we'll just be going then. Such a shame..." He half turned and made to walk away, but the doorman called him back.

"Wait, wait, maybe he put your name on the list anyway! What's your name?"

"Oh, its not important - I wouldn't want you to bend the rules for us."

"No, sir, just tell me your name and I'll find it. I'm sure that Kurosawa-sama would have made arrangements for his good friend."

"Well, in that case, I am Kyoya Ootori."

"Ooto- " Haruhi felt sorry for the poor doorman, who had now turned ashy-white. He obviously recognized the name, and was now looking furiously at his clipboard. Stabbing his finger at a random name on his list, he cried out, "Aha! Here you are, sir! Please, come right in." He unclipped the velvet rope separating them and ushered the two of them through, and then pulled open the heavy door, and they were nearly engulfed by the deep, throbbing sound of the club. "If you need anything, or if anyone gives you any trouble, any at all, Ootori-sama, just pass the word for Ichigo - that's me! I know how to take care of Kurosawa-sama's friends." The big man gave them a beaming smile, which Kyoya returned as he thanked him and guided Haruhi inside.

They paused at the coat check, and as Kyoya helped Haruhi out of her coat, she regarded him suspiciously. "Do you really know this Kurosawa person? Who is he, anyway?"

"Ah, the Kurosawa family owns this nightclub, along with many others and other various businesses around Japan. My family has done business with them before, and we do indeed have a beach property that abuts theirs."

"So you really are friends?"

"No. Kurosawa is a moron. Can't stand the guy."

The inside of the club was a riot of noise and flashes of light cutting through the murky blackness. Haruhi wondered how a place could be so bright and so dark all at the same time. The dance floor was filled with people, packed together so closely that it was very difficult to distinguish one from the crowd. Aside from the dance floor, there was a long bar, lit from behind with cool blue light. The rest of the club seemed filled with tall tables and delicate stools, or long, sleek couches arranged in tight half-circles around low tables, some of which were supporting drinks, and others were supporting enthusiastic dancers. The floor seemed to vibrate from the deep base of the music, and it was so loud that Haruhi couldn't tell which direction it was coming from. Kyoya started down the short flight of stairs that led down to the main floor of the club, and Haruhi grabbed the edge of his sleeve, to keep from being separated in this loud, dark, bustling place. Sensing the tug on his arm, Kyoya looked down, and seizing yet another opportunity, reached back and grabbed her hand, pulling her gently along with him as he wound his way through the crowd and found an empty table. He drew Haruhi up beside him and leaned down to speak into her ear, making sure he would be heard over the throbbing music.

"Would you like something to drink?" She blinked at him, and he thought he had possibly been too loud right in her ear.

"WHAT?" Evidently he hadn't been loud enough. He disliked raising his voice, and rarely did so, even when necessary. It was unseemly, and rather than yell into her ear, Kyoya pulled Haruhi towards him and leaned very close, cupping his free hand around his mouth and raising his volume slightly as he took care to enunciate each word. Haruhi started to move away at this sudden closeness, but she held onto his hand and leaned in, feeling his hand just brush her hair as she did so. She barely heard him, but it was the weird tingle in her scalp and climbing up her arm that distracted her, not the music. However, his question registered in her brain and she nodded.

"Wait. Here." And to emphasize his point, he drew back and pointed at her with his free hand, then at the stool next to them. He squeezed her hand very slightly just before he released it and turned and slipped away into the crowd. Haruhi clambered awkwardly up onto the tall stool and leaned her elbows on the tiny table. She ran her fingers through her hair, rubbing the strange tingle away. Touching Kyoya was like touching something that was slightly electrified - but why? He was just Kyoya; why should being near him make her feel any differently than being around anyone else? She pondered this mystery as she watched the dancers, wrinkling her forehead slightly at some of the positively obscene motions she saw. The thought of dancing like that with anyone was very uncomfortable, but then she thought of doing it with Kyoya. She laughed out loud, completely floored by an absurd image of the serious young man grinding his crotch on anything, let alone another person, especially her. She was still laughing when a young man with spiky hair streaked with bleached reddish splashes materialized at her table.

"HEY!"

Haruhi was startled, and looked at this boy blankly. He had a ring through his eyebrow and a crooked smile, and was actually rather cute. "HEY!" She replied.

"I'M KENJI! FIRST TIME HERE?" Haruhi nodded. She didn't want to have to keep yelling to be heard, but this guy didn't seem to mind. He was obviously someone very accustomed to loud clubs. "THOUGHT SO. SO, YOU WANNA DANCE?"

"Not really!" Kenji's face seemed to fall, but Haruhi, as oblivious as ever, forged on. "This was my friend's idea - I don't really dance! I'm not very good at it..." Kenji regained hope, and a smile spread across his face. _Great, this cute girl is here with a cute friend._ He was chalking this one up as a win, as he was sure he could probably talk them both into dancing with him.

"OK - LET'S WAIT FOR YOUR FRIEND AND WE'LL ALL DANCE!"

"Ah..." Haruhi wasn't sure how this would work, but she had no idea how to shake this guy. She raised her hand to try to correct the situation, but Kenji had already slid around the table and was now standing uncomfortably close to her. She looked around desperately for Kyoya, but didn't see him anywhere. Someone had fired up a strobe light, and now everyone's motions looked oddly stilted. The persistent guy had leaned down to talk into her ear and he was asking where she was from when Kyoya squeezed back through the crowd with a bottle of water in one hand. As he approached the table, one eyebrow raised, Kenji saw him first over Haruhi's shoulder. He saw this new young man, tall, and very handsome (which did not escape the notice of several of the girls in the club), heading towards his precious find. He shot him a look that seemed to say 'I've already got this one, move along.' Kyoya ignored him and continued on, a dark aura starting to build in the back of his mind. He should have known better than to leave Haruhi alone - she was too naive and pretty for her own good sometimes. He set the water down on the table and tipped his glasses up his nose as Haruhi whipped her head around and saw him. She smiled at him, now several inches closer to being eye-level. Turning to her new companion she pointed at Kyoya and said, "HERE'S MY FRIEND!" Turning back to Kyoya, she grabbed the bottle off the table and took a drink. She didn't notice the two young men staring daggers at each other over her head. Haruhi set the bottle down on the table, but before she could screw the plastic cap back on, Kyoya lifted it out of her hand and brought it up to his mouth and took a swig himself, never taking his eyes off this interloper. Haruhi was vaguely surprised that Kyoya had not bothered wiping the mouthpiece - as though it was nothing to share a drink with her. She had learned from previous experience in the Host Club that while she did not mind sharing food or utensils with the others, they seemed to get into a twist about it. But Kyoya continued to drink, glaring at Kenji. In the sometimes not-so-subtle language of guys, the meaning was clear - Kyoya had just laid claim to what Kenji was trying to horn in on. Kenji knew he had lost, and he turned and faded into the crowd almost as suddenly as he had appeared. Kyoya set the bottle back on the table and leaned back over to Haruhi, who was now regarding him with a surprised look on her face.

"So, maybe I should ask you to dance before anyone else does." The music had died down just enough for Haruhi to catch every word, and this time, she just nodded. She picked up the bottle and took one last drink before offering it back to Kyoya, who shook his head and held out his hand to her. She dawdled with the bottle's cap, slightly dreading having to go out on the dance floor. She held no illusions about her dancing ability - she knew she was a klutz, and she couldn't begin to imagine how she was going to dance like the humping couples she had been watching a moment ago. She set the bottle down, and with a sigh, took Kyoya's waiting hand. As the warm tingle spread up her arm, she remembered that Kyoya was, at heart, a gentleman, and he was sure not to do anything that weird or inappropriate... again. She blinked away a memory of the beach house in Okinawa - the thunderstorm afterwards had nearly made her forget what had happened, but now the memories came rushing back. She tried not to imagine Kyoya with his shirt off as she reminded herself that he wasn't trying to teach her a lesson this time, so she was safe.

Kyoya drew her along behind him and into the throng of dancers. He wound his way past the edge of the crowd and found a small open space in the midst of a pulsating group of clubbers, and turned to face Haruhi as she came up behind him. The loud, pulsating music changed smoothly from one song to the next, and this next song seemed to consist of a heavy beat and some hard guitar, as the singer spoke in a smoky voice, rather than sang. It was in English, and Kyoya smiled to himself at the lyrics. He started to sway with the beat, tugging gently on Haruhi's hand, prompting her to do the same. She copied Kyoya's motion, then as the music built, she started to get into it. She felt very awkward with Kyoya's eyes on her, so she tried closing her eyes partway and tried not think about it. She concentrated on the music, and trying to understand what the singer was saying. She spoke some English, and it seemed to her like the man was listing the things he liked about some girl. She shook the hair out of her eyes and put her free hand up over her head, twisting her hips from side to side as she danced. Fortunately for her, this kind of dancing didn't seem to require much footwork, and she pulled her hand free of Kyoya's grip as the dancers around her clapped in unison with a beat in the song, and she joined in. She felt a smile growing on her face, and she chanced a peek at Kyoya, to see how he was doing. She was surprised, and yet not surprised, that he was doing very well for himself. He moved effortlessly, the colored lights and white strobe flashing off his glasses. He, too, was following the list of the singer, clapping his hands and shaking his hair when the lyrics came up. There was something snaky about his sinuous movement, something hypnotic and somewhat dangerous, and Haruhi smiled broadly, fascinated and happy that they were both having fun with this. Kyoya put one hand on her waist to keep her nearby and Haruhi turned halfway and tossed her head, really getting into the music. She opened her mouth to laugh, and Kyoya started to take a step closer, to put his other hand on her waist and keep dancing in closer quarters. As he started to reach for her, however, someone behind him was shoving their way through the crowd, and slammed into his back. He was knocked forward, and tried to catch himself before he fell over on top of Haruhi. She chose that moment to toss her head back towards him, and before either of them could react, Kyoya had stumbled into her, his mouth on hers.

She had not immediately realized what was happening, as each of them seemed to freeze, their lips brushing. Everything around them seemed to slow, and Kyoya's brain was working at high speed, trying to think - _how long have I imagined being able to kiss her? Not like this, but then, who am I to pass up an opportunity when it falls in my lap? _Just as Kyoya had decided to go for it and leaned in to deepen the kiss, Haruhi turned away and backed up, causing him to miss and stumble into her shoulder. Haruhi didn't notice his attempt to kiss her as her own brain ran at high speed, trying to figure out what had just happened. That accidental kiss had been far too confusing, and she didn't understand it at all.

"I... I-I'm sorry, senpai, excuse me for a moment..." she turned and rushed through the crowd to the back wall, and once she found the exit door, out into the alleyway. Kyoya stood alone on the dance floor, silently cursing himself and whoever had shoved him for ruining a perfectly good dance. He made his way to the edge of the crowd. He found an empty seat on a long, plush couch and took it. He ignored the couple making out on the section next to him and leaned his elbows on his knees as he stared down at the floor between his well-shined shoes.

_She ran..._ he thought. _ I kissed her and she ran from me... I never should have done this. I was a fool to even try._ Kyoya took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, going over and over that brief kiss in his mind. He could still taste her lip gloss. Strawberries. _This was such a bad idea._

--

Author's Note: FINALLY! I am so sorry that it took song long for me to finish this chapter, so I tried to make it up by making this one a bit longer (OK, a lot longer). But yay! Development! And dancing! And it sounds like someone is starting to fall! (but, poor Kyoya, Haruhi's just too oblivious to figure it out quickly.) The next few chapters will come more quickly, since they're already finished, but I'm starting school this week, so future chapters may take longer. And, special thanks to all my readers and reviewers. Remember, I live off reviews, and I always answer them, even if its just a short "YOU SUCK!"

And, if you're curious, the song I was listening to when I wrote the the dancing scene was "I Like The Way You Move", by the Bodyrockers.

UPDATE The illustration for this chapter has been posted on deviantart. I can't post a link, so just copy and paste the follorwing address, then delete all the spaces, and it will take you to the illustration. http : / / melovedogboy . deviantart . com /art/oopsy-97240604


	9. Ch 9 Rescuer

Author's Note: So, just to forewarn you, now I'm starting to earn my T rating - there's a bit of language in this chapter. Don't say I didn't warn you!

For future reference...

_Thoughts _

Emphasis (or EMPHASIS)

**Speaking in unison** - used mostly for twins

DISCLAIMER: Own Ouran or its characters, I do not. That honor belongs to the loverly and talented Ms. Bisco Hatori. I simply borrowed them for a story that is meant to entertain, so please, don't copy or sue!

Ch. 9

Rescuer

--

Haruhi leaned against the wall in the alleyway outside the club. She could hear the music thumping, and she was struggling inside, trying to think. She had been having fun with Kyoya - she smirked. That sounded so unlikely all by itself, but she really had been enjoying herself with him. She could still see the look of surprise, and then something unidentifiable in Kyoya's eyes as they were pushed together by the bustling crowd of other dancers. She reached up and touched her lips, still dazed. _ I know he didn't mean to... it was just an accident. _ She shivered, realizing that she had run outside into the snow without a coat. The door that she had just come through was smooth on this side, so she was going to have to walk around to the front to get back into the club. _Stupid! I hope that guy... Ichigo, wasn't it? I hope he remembers me and lets me back in..._ she thought as she trudged back up the alleyway to the street. She rubbed her arms with her hands as her teeth started to chatter from the cold. _Stupid, stupid, stupid! I run away over a kiss - it was just an accident! Wasn't it? _ An unexplainable flutter popped up in her stomach._ Anyway, now I'm stuck outside with no coat and no phone. Argh... how stupid!_

Haruhi was jolted out of her thoughts by a rough hand on her right arm and an equally rough voice coming from the hand's owner. "Well, well, well. Where do you think you're going on a cold night with no coat, little girl? Need me to keep you warm?" A burly man with dark hair was holding Haruhi's upper arm as he leered at her.

"I'm going back to the club, now please let me go." She tried to pull her arm free, but the man's grip didn't falter.

"Oh, and I suppose you could make him do that, could you, little girl?" A second man stepped out from the other side of the alley, soon joined by yet another man, each of them as sallow and greasy as the first man was burly. All three smelled vaguely of liquor, and all had an evil, predatory gleam in their eyes. "We would much rather have you stay and keep us company."

_Shit,_ thought Haruhi. _Just when I thought things couldn't get much worse. _ She twisted, trying to free herself from the man's grip, but he just squeezed harder, holding her so tightly that her arm was beginning to hurt. She suddenly realized what the Host Club had been trying to make her understand that day back at the beach - she was just a girl, and in the grasp of bigger, stronger men, she was in trouble. These men weren't like those jerks at the beach, either. They were grown men, and more importantly, they KNEW she was a girl. They wouldn't push her around and laugh at what a scrawny kid she was. She was very suddenly afraid, and she frantically tried to think of something to say to make them back off.

"Let me go! My friend is here with me. He knows where I am, and... and you'll be sorry when he finds you here!" It was a lame threat, she knew, but it was the best she could think of.

"Oh, just one little boy to go with one little girl? I think we could handle that. Especially wussy little rich brats like you. Might make things even more fun. So... what are you going to do for me if I let you go, girlie?" The big man leaned in as his two friends laughed.

--

Inside the club, Kyoya was staring down at the door that Haruhi had left through. Exit Only. _She's probably stuck out there shivering with no way back in. _ He rolled his eyes and went to get their coats from the coatroom, preparing to venture out and either bring her back in or take her back to the hotel. _Probably back to the hotel, considering how the last five minutes have gone._ He sighed and started thinking of how he was going to explain things to her as he took the coats and walked through the back door.

"Let go! You're hurting me!" Kyoya froze. It was Haruhi's voice.

"Ah, she's fiesty, this one. I like when the little ones are fiesty. Makes them more of a challenge." His stomach dropped and he felt as though all the air had been sucked out of him. _ I left her alone, and she's in trouble. Oh God._ Kyoya dropped Haruhi's coat, grabbed his cell phone, and quickly dialled his driver. "Tachibana! Get into the alleyway by the club, now!" He shoved the cell phone back into his pocket as he ran up to the knot of men that he knew was around Haruhi.

"Get away!" Haruhi reached back and slapped the man across the face as hard as she could.

"Why you little, fucking bitch!" The burly thug raised his hand to backhand Haruhi as she stared back at him defiantly.

"I wouldn't call her that if I were you." Haruhi's heart leapt as she heard the familiar voice.

"Kyoya!"

"In fact, I suggest you take your hands off her and leave now, before things get serious." Kyoya was standing in the middle of the alleyway, nothing about his dangerous tone betraying the fact that his nerves were on edge. He wanted to run in and beat the crap out of the men, but he knew that his knowledge of martial arts and fighting was limited, at best. Besides, his skills lay in negotiation, not fighting. _If I can stall them for just a moment, then we can get out of here just fine. _

"Oh, here's your friend, then. I knew we could take him. Seriously, look at that. All arms and legs, but no muscle. How pathetic." The thugs snickered amongst themselves.

"I've already asked you once politely. Now, let her go."

"Make us, rich boy." They laughed.

"If you insist." Kyoya smirked, and the deep coldness that he radiated in his anger gave the men a second's pause. In spite of the fact that is was just his one against their three, something about his tone made them wonder if they had picked the wrong person to mess with. Their hesitation was all Kyoya needed to dash between the two sallow men and dodge between Haruhi and the burly man. She had never seen him most so fast. Wedging himself between them, he backed up until Haruhi was pinned between him and the wall. Startled, she grabbed a handful of Kyoya's coat and held on tightly. He wrapped his arm around the bigger man's arm and pushed his elbow backwards, forcing him to let go of Haruhi. The man yelped in surprise and pain, but hung onto her sleeve, ripping it as Kyoya planted his foot in the man's stomach and shoved him backwards. The big man stumbled back and crashed into his two comrades.

"You little shit, you're going to regret that!" The big man came back and swung a punch right into Kyoya's face. He couldn't get out of the way fast enough, and he ducked, catching the blow on the left side of his head. The man's fist smashed into his cheekbone and drove his glasses up and into his eyebrow. Kyoya staggered, but Haruhi hung on to his coat with one hand and half-caught him around the waist with then other, keeping him steady. Recovering quickly, he shook off the dizziness and pain from the strike. He turned, grabbed the front of the man's shirt and drove his knee up into the man's crotch as hard as he could. The bigger man grunted and crumpled, dropping to his knees. Kyoya reached behind him and, guiding Haruhi along with him, started moving along the wall towards the street.

"You fight dirty, you little bastard!" The big man was writhing on the ground, but his two friends were still ready to fight. They made a move to chase after the two, stumbling around their fallen ringleader, and Kyoya half turned to speak to Haruhi over his shoulder. She gasped as she saw a trickle of blood running down the side of his face, but bit it back when she saw the deadly look in his eye.

"Run for the street. Got it? Don't look back."

She had seen Kyoya irritated, even angry before, and that alone had been intimidating. He was talented at being menacing without trying, and it aided him in getting people to bend to his will. She had been scared by this aspect of his nature on several occasions, but nothing compared to this. He was utterly terrifying in his fury, and all she could do was nod. Despite the situation, all she could think was how very, very glad that she wasn't the one he was angry at.

"I'm going to kill you, you little shit!" The two men made their move, and Kyoya turned, dragged Haruhi around in front of him and shoved her forward, towards the street and safety. They both ran, tearing up the alleyway with the thugs hot on their heels. Kyoya, focused on Haruhi in front of him, stepped on a frozen puddle and lost his footing. Haruhi didn't see him slip. She kept running towards the street as one of the thugs caught Kyoya by the back of the coat. The taller of the two men jerked him around and grabbed him by his lapels, pulling him off balance.

"You think a skinny brat like you can take the three of us? By fighting dirty? Seems to me you need a lesson in manners."

"Really? I've been told my manners are impeccable." His voice dripped with venom and sarcasm. "It would seem that you need the lesson - " Kyoya was cut short by a sudden blow that knocked his head sideways. He shook the stars out of his eyes and looked back at the livid men. He could taste blood, and realized that the man had backhanded him in the mouth. He smirked crookedly. "See, you interrupted me. Very poor manners."

_Crash!_ Haruhi heard the sharp noise and turned her head. She was only a few yards from the street, and she saw now that she was alone. No thugs following her, but more importantly, no Kyoya, either. She slid to a stop and looked back to see her friend far behind her. Kyoya had been knocked reeling into the alley wall, overturning a trash can, and the two men were closing in on him. Taking him by the collar, one man spun him around and shoved his back against the wall. Before he could recover and gain his footing, he doubled over as one of the men punched him in the ribs. As the two men began taking turns pummling him, Haruhi tried to call for help, but no words came. She was shaking with the cold and adrenaline, and seeing Kyoya in trouble, she stopped dead, and finally finder her voice, screamed.

Kyoya and the two thugs all looked up at her scream, and his heart sank. The shorter of the two men turned and ran after Haruhi, while the other man turned back to Kyoya. He shoved Kyoya back up against the wall and drew back his hand to strike him again. Kyoya struggled, turning over his shoulder to call out to Haruhi. "What are you doing?! Get out of here! GO!"

Haruhi was rooted to the spot. Kyoya NEVER raised his voice, and now she knew why - if he could be intimidating using his usual speaking voice, he was a terrifying force to be reckoned with when he yelled. She was scared of the situation she was in, of course, but seeing and hearing Kyoya like this was more frightening. She was torn - _I can't fight off those men, but... I can't just leave him there. _ She watched the thug close in on her, as though in slow motion. _Oh Mother in Heaven... What am I going to do?_

--

Author's Note: BWAHAHAHAHAHA!! Cliffhanger! Poor Kyoya... this date is not going as planned. What happens next? You'll have to wait and see. Muahahaha!!

Don't forget to review! Part two is coming soon, but I wanna see some reviews before I post. (holding it hostage for review ransom ;3)

And, because I can't say it enough, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all my readers and my wonderful reviewers! I love you all!


	10. Ch 10 Rescuer Pt 2

Warning: Rated 'T' for a reason!

For future reference...

_Thoughts  
Emphasis (or EMPHASIS)  
**Speaking in unison** - used mostly for twins_

DISCLAIMER: Own Ouran or its characters, I do not. That honor belongs to the loverly and talented Ms. Bisco Hatori. I simply borrowed them for a story that is meant to entertain, so please, don't copy or sue!

Ch. 10

Rescuer Part 2

--

Haruhi stumbled backwards, unable to just turn and run. She watched the tall thug shake Kyoya by the front of his coat, as Kyoya struggled with him, trying to break his hold and kick him somewhere, anywhere. The shorter man was barreling towards her, and she screamed again. "HELP! Someone, help!" Just then, Kyoya's driver came tearing around the corner. He reached for the gun he kept in his shoulder holster, and brought it to bear on the man who came charging down the alleyway towards him. The thug, seeing a gun, slid to a stop so fast that he nearly fell on the icy ground.

"Shit, this kid has a bodyguard! We gotta go, man!" He turned tail and ran, as the tall thug holding Kyoya, startled, turned to see what his friend was talking about. Kyoya took his chance and punched the man in the nose as hard as he could, sending him staggering backwards.

"Get out of here, before I tell him to shoot to kill." Kyoya rubbed his knuckles and glared at the man, who realized, as he held his newly broken nose, that he had picked the wrong guy to mess with. He turned and fled down the alleyway, barely stopping to collect his fallen comrade before they disappeared around the corner at the far end of the alley. The bodyguard exhaled slowly, and holstered his weapon as he turned back to Haruhi, who was standing against the wall a few yards from the corner.

"Are you alright?" Haruhi couldn't find her voice, so she just nodded. The driver turned and jogged down the alleyway to meet Kyoya, who was striding up to the street, looking like hell. He stopped and gave a short bow, then asked, "Are you alright, Kyoya-bocchama? Should I go after them? Call for backup?"

"No," Kyoya was breathing hard, trying to recover from his adrenaline rush. "They're already gone. However, I dropped the lady's coat by the club's back door. Would you go get it, and then bring the car around? I think we're ready to call it a night." The valet gave another short bow, then disappeared down the alleyway. Kyoya kept walking until he was standing right in front of Haruhi. She had her eyes lowered, and she wouldn't look at him. "Are you alright? Did they hurt you? What happened?"

"Nothing. One of them grabbed my arm, and I think my dress got torn, but that's it. I'm fine." They both looked down to her arm, and Kyoya frowned at the large, angry, hand-shaped bruise that was forming on her upper arm. He could feel his blood boil as he counted the clearly visible finger-marks. And indeed, her dress was torn. The seam on her sleeve was completely separated, and the dress hung against her body, leaving her shoulder, arm, and a good portion of the right side of her chest totally bare. Kyoya gulped, and looked back up to her eyes.

"THAT is not nothing."

"I'm fine." Snow was starting to fall, and Haruhi realized again that she was standing outside with no coat. She fought against the urge to shiver, but lost. Kyoya saw it, and sighed as he took off his coat and draped it around her shoulders.

"It seems we both forgot your coat. Now, I thought we already had this conversation, about getting into trouble." He leaned down so that he was at eye-level, carefully took her uninjured shoulder in his hand. "I trust you won't let it happen again."

Haruhi stuck her chin out defiantly, and was about to argue that it wasn't really her fault when she looked up and was stopped by the sight of Kyoya's face. He looked genuinely concerned, but it was his bloodied eye that gave her pause. His left eye was nearly swollen shut, and his glasses were sitting askew, their left side covered in blood. There was a deep gash under his eyebrow, and what had been a trickle was now a smear of deep red across the side of his face. And on top of all that, his lip was split, with a tiny stream of crimson flowing from the cut.

"Kyoya-senpai, you're bleeding."

Exasperation got the better of him, and he started to snap at her. "I thought I told you not to call me sen... what?"

"Your eye. You're bleeding."

"My eye?" He reached up and touched the side of his face, and stared at the drops of red on his fingers for a few seconds. "So it is." The black Mercedes pulled up to the curb nearby, and Tachibana got out and quickly ran around to open the door for them. "Come on, there's a first-aid kit in the car." Kyoya ushered Haruhi into the back seat, and they both settled in as the car pulled away from the club and accelerated down the street. Kyoya reached into a compartment and pulled out a small white package marked with a red cross. He was about to open it when Haruhi snatched it out of his hands and began rummaging through it herself.

"Here, let me. You can't see yourself to do this, anyway."

"There is a mirror." Kyoya reached for the gauze in her hand, but she pulled it away.

"Just let me help you. It's the least I can do." The stubborn look in her eyes left no room for argument. Kyoya sighed and leaned back in the seat, staring straight ahead. _It's probably as close as she's going to come to an apology, so I might as well leave her to it._ He took off his glasses and squinted at them, trying to see if they were broken. He reached up with his sleeve to wipe his forehead, and realized too late that he had just smeared blood all over his shirt. Rolling his eyes, he shrugged off the black and white shirt, used it to wipe his glasses clean, and tossed it on the floor. Haruhi turned back to him, hesitating slightly at the sight of him in just the red, skin-tight t-shirt. She gulped and shook herself back to the present. "Now, hold still..." He closed his eyes and winced as the wet gauze touched his cuts, but he didn't move while Haruhi cleaned the blood away. He sucked air through his teeth when she dabbed the cut with disinfectant, but he held as still as possible. He was very relaxed by the time she pasted on the bandage and wiped the rest of the blood off his cheek, and he was quietly relishing the gentle pressure of her fingertips on his skin.

"There. Your lip is swollen, and you're going to have a black eye in the morning, but at least you're not bleeding anymore."

He pulled down a mirror and checked. Sure enough, the left side of his face was puffy, and he couldn't see well out of his left eye. But the cuts didn't look too bad. "Thanks. How's your arm?"

"Fine, I guess." She shrugged, and turned to look out the window. "It doesn't really hurt much."

"Good."

They sat in silence for what seemed like hours, each of them staring out of their windows. After a few moments Kyoya turned and watched Haruhi. She was still wrapped in his coat, and she was leaning her forehead against the window. The thousands of tiny lights that covered the trees on the broad street twinkled in her eyes and shone in her hair. He smiled to himself, and turned back to his own window. He brooded for a while, trying to decide what to say next. He wasn't used to being at a loss for words, and yet around her, he very often was. He wasn't sure if he should tell her how he felt now. The day, though it had gotten off to a rocky start, had been going just fine up until recently, and he had originally planned on telling her on the drive home. But somehow, considering what had just happened, the timing didn't feel right. She seemed irritated with him - maybe he shouldn't have scolded her about getting into trouble. After all, it wasn't entirely her fault. He stared out his window at the dark trees rushing past - they had left the city behind a few minutes before, and the onsen wasn't far off now. He was jerked out of his reverie by a sudden pressure on his left shoulder. He turned to see that Haruhi was leaning against him, and as he watched, she snuggled her head onto his shoulder. His heart leapt into his throat. This girl, and all her wonderful qualities, was the only person who could get him flustered. Planning be damned, now the timing was perfect. He took a deep breath and stared down at his hands.

"Haruhi, I know that tonight has not really gone according to plan, but I would hope that everything leading up to the... awkward moment on the dance floor was enjoyable for you. I regret that things turned out so badly, and I would like the opportunity to make it up to you some other time. That is, if you want to spend more time with me. Alone. That is..." _Damn this girl! Why can't I keep my thoughts straight when she's near me like this? _"What I'm trying to say is that... I really care for you, Haruhi, more than just as a friend, and I would like you to come out with me again on another... well, on a real date." Silence. Kyoya shifted his weight nervously before continuing. "I understand if you need time to think about it. With all the pressures from school and the Host Club, I know that we're both short on free time, but I'm sure we could find a way to make... time..." He realized that it was very unlike Haruhi not to have responded to this by now. He craned his neck to try to get a good look at her face. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing was deep and slow. She was sound asleep, and from the look of it, she had been for a while.

_DAMNIT!!_ Kyoya felt like putting his head through the window and yelling. He had sucked it up and made himself look like a fool in front of her and she had SLEPT through his confession. Instead, he took a deep breath and counted to ten. Then twenty. It was just like Haruhi to find a way to kill a romantic moment. He sighed as he looked back at her. As frustrating as she was, she was still Haruhi, and he wouldn't have her any other way. _Maybe its for the best that she didn't hear me just now_, he thought. _I sounded like such a fool... Damn that romantic idiot Tamaki, he's rubbing off on me! I know I can find a better way to phrase it. And at least now I know how NOT to say it._

Kyoya maneuvered his arm out from between himself and a sleeping Haruhi and gently hugged her, readjusting her so that her head lay more comfortably on his shoulder. They rode like that the rest of the way back to the onsen, Haruhi sleeping soundly, and Kyoya mulling over how he was going to tell her how he felt. They pulled up to the front of the hotel, and Kyoya realized that he was either going to have to wake Haruhi, or carry her in. He looked down at her peaceful face, and decided on the latter. He shifted her closer, slipped his right arm under her knees and lifted her, bridal style, out of the car. The desk clerk gave him a strange look as Kyoya carried her through the lobby and down the hall to her room. He had thought ahead, and had pulled her key out of her coat pocket before they had gotten out of the car, so he easily opened the door and carried her across the threshold into her room. After laying her down gently on her bed, he then walked around to the foot of the bed and gingerly removed her boots. Setting each of them down as quietly as possible, he straightened and turned to leave, but paused and looked back over his shoulder. She was still wearing his heavy winter coat. _I should probably take that off her,_ he thought. Sighing, he climbed onto the bed with her and slowly lifted her shoulders before easing one arm out of the sleeve. _This girl is so troublesome sometimes. _

He was about to start on the other sleeve when Haruhi chose that moment to roll over in her sleep. She draped herself across Kyoya's chest, and muttered under her breath. He was at a loss. She had been very deeply asleep in the car when he picked her up, but now she seemed to be sleeping only very lightly. He didn't want to wake her, not after all the excitement she'd been though. _Well, I guess I'm not leaving anytime soon. I'll just wait until she rolls back, then I'll leave._ Her weight was pressing him backwards, onto the bed, and he gave in. He grabbed a pillow to prop under his head and laid back, cuddling Haruhi closer on his chest. He pulled his coat the rest of the way off her and tossed it to the floor, then pulled the comforter around her shoulders before hugging her with one arm and putting the other up behind his head. After kicking off his shoes and placing his glasses on the bedside table, he watched the blurry shadows of falling snow play across the ceiling. Although he had certainly not planned lying in bed with Haruhi (well, not at this stage, anyway), he wasn't about to argue with this turn of events. Her slight frame was warm and comforting as she curled against him, and hoping she was still asleep, he ventured to hug her a little tighter. He took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh as she responded by snuggling into his shirt and hugging him back.

"Kyoya..." He held his breath. _Shit, did I wake her up? How do I explain this?_

"Yes?" No answer. He looked down at her face. She was sound asleep. His heart skipped a beat. She had said his name - HIS name - in her sleep. She was dreaming about him. He reached up and softly stroked her hair, marveling at its softness, and turned back to the ceiling, a huge, true grin spreading across his face. _I guess I will have another chance tomorrow._

--

Author's Note: Aw... Poor Kyoya. Haruhi runs away from a kiss, he gets beaten up, she sleeps through his confession... but you see, I made it up to him! And, side note, Kyoya is KICKASS!! Only a true badass can put up with all that and still be cool AND shmexy. And, ooh... what is Haruhi dreaming about? Find out in Chapter 11, coming soon!

I just want to say thank you to all you readers, and especially to my reviewers. You've stuck with me through ten whole chapters, with no end in sight! So, special thanks to my faithful reviewers who have helped me so much in my writing: Illa Scriptor, Jiru-senpai, Marisol Akyri, teeenaaa, sonata hirano, and everyone else who reviewed! And, as usual, I will be holding Chapter 11 hostage until I get some reviews! I need them for sustenance :D Feed me! (Sorry if AN's are getting obnoxious - say the word and I'll cut it out. REVIEW!)

OH, and, extra-special bonus for anyone who did not see my updates on any of the previous chapters - I have illustrations now! My little sister, who helped me conceptualize this story, has created some wonderful illustrations for several of the chapters so far. They are linked at the bottom of each chapter, and as of the posting date of this chapter (sept. '08), there are 4 illustrations posted, for chapters 1, 3, 4, and 8. Check them out!


	11. Ch 11 Discovery

For future reference...

_Thoughts _

Emphasis (or EMPHASIS)

**Speaking in unison** - used mostly for twins

DISCLAIMER: Own Ouran or its characters, I do not. That honor belongs to the loverly and talented Ms. Bisco Hatori. I simply borrowed them for a story that is meant to entertain, so please, don't copy or sue!

Ch. 11

Discovery

--

Haruhi was back in the alleyway, and the shadows that surrounded her had sprouted hands, hundreds and hundreds of tiny hands that reached out to her. They pulled at her clothes, her hair. They tried to take her by the hand and drag her into the blackness with them. She pulled away, and began running down the alley. It seemed to stretch on forever, the street a distant goal that never grew closer. She ran faster and faster, and looked over her shoulder to see the shadows closing in on her, like a building wave. They caught up to her, pulling her to a stop, and began drawing her backwards, sucking her into the dark. She screamed, but no sound came out. Frantic now, she turned back to towards the street, desperate for help.

And there he was.

He stood alone in the middle of the alley, dressed in black, his face in shadow. The only light came from the reflection off his glasses. He didn't speak, but simply started to walk towards her. The grasping shadow hands parted before him, shrinking away and clearing a path for their king as he walked leisurely along. The closer he came, the more the hands slackened their grip on Haruhi, until they were totally gone. She was left kneeling on the ground, looking up at him as he stopped just in front of her. He held his hand out to help her up, and, breathlessly, she took it. He pulled her up quickly and caught her in his arms. She stared up into his face, watching his dark grey eyes as he leaned down to kiss her. She realized that she wanted him, needed him, more than she had wanted anything in her life. She tipped her head back and waited for Kyoya to kiss her, suddenly wondering why the cars on the street were so loud...

--

Haruhi awoke to soft snoring in her ear. She blinked slowly, trying to clear the cobwebs from her brain. She could see the bright, pale reflection of sunlight off snow shining on the wall across from the bed. Still sleepy, she tried to roll over and stretch, but met with something warm and solid. Confused, she stopped suddenly when the soft snore came again. Someone else was in the bed, snuggled up with her. She turned and saw Kyoya sleeping on her bare shoulder. They were lying on their left sides, and she was nose to nose with him, staring at the uninjured side of his face. This close to him, she could see how his dark eyelashes lay on his cheek, and his black hair was tousled and falling down over his eyes. Remembering her dream, she blushed, embarrassed to be this close to him. She tried to move, but realized that the two of them were tangled up together. Somehow, during the night, they had burrowed underneath the comforter, and now it, too, was twisted up with their limbs. Growing exasperated, she squirmed, and finding his arms wrapped around her waist, she took a hold of one and shook gently, trying to wake him. He grumbled, but kept his eyes shut and laid still.

"Kyoya-senpai, what are you doing here?"

"Sleeping..." He growled.

"But..."

"Ngh..." Kyoya wrapped himself around her, still mostly asleep and not entirely aware of what was going on. He hugged her closer, hanging onto his own dream involving Haruhi in a flowing dress...

"Kyoya, let me up..." Haruhi could hear voices outside the room. The last thing she wanted was for housekeeping to walk in and find her like this.

"Shh..." muttered Kyoya, burrowing his face into her neck, unconsciously relishing her soft skin and her scent. The short, young-man's stubble that dusted his jaw scraped against her bare skin, and his mouth brushed against her neck, sending chills rocketing up her spine. _This is not good. I can't be in bed with him!_ She squirmed, but to no avail. Even asleep, Kyoya's grip was like a vise. She gave up and relaxed a bit - _This is hopeless_. _Maybe the housekeeper will go on past the room. Then I'll just have to wait until he wakes up to get loose_. The voices grew louder and more distinct, and suddenly Haruhi recognized the loudest among them. Tamaki. The Host Club had found them.

She swore under her breath and began struggling with renewed energy. She could not let the Host Club find her here like this. But Kyoya remained uncooperative. It seemed the more she struggled, the tighter he held her. Haruhi was getting desperate. "GET OFF!" She hissed. But just then, the door opened, and she heard Tamaki as he strode in.

"Haruhi! Rise and shine! Only Kyoya sleeps this late, and if we hurry, we can go to the springs without him, since Mom's been hogging you all..." Tamaki was the first through the door, and so he was the first one to witness the scene. "...night..." He stopped in the doorway, dumbstruck.

"What is it, Milord?"

"Don't stop there, you're blocking the way. Oh..." Hikaru and Kaoru both peered around Tamaki, and were just as shocked at what they saw. Haruhi, struggling on the bed with Kyoya, her dress torn. Shoes and coats strewn across the floor around the bed. All they could see of Kyoya was his tangle of arms and legs wrapped around their beloved Haruhi. Mori and Hunny wedged themselves in behind the three younger men, but each of them kept their wits about them. Mori moved the fastest, lifting the twins and Tamaki off the floor and moving all three of them out of his way. He crossed the room in a flash, and took Kyoya by the collar and pulled him out of bed as easily as someone else might have grabbed a bad puppy by the scruff of the neck.

Kyoya was jolted awake by the yank on his shirt, and made a frantic grab for the comforter, the pillow, anything he could reach as he was unceremoniously dragged out of bed. His hands met with something silky and soft, that slipped and squirmed out of his grasp with a squeak. Why did it sound so familiar? Suddenly he was dangling in midair, and there was an eruption of sound and movement around him. The twins sprang into action, and they both dashed to the bed and leapt in, one on either side of Haruhi.

"Are you alright?" Kaoru was on her left, pulling back the comforter and checking her over.

"Yes, I'm.." Haruhi started.

"Your dress is torn..." Hikaru was doing the same on her other side.

"I know, its nothing... Ouch!" She flinched as Hikaru grabbed her arm.

"My God! How did you get that bruise?" Hikaru pulled her arm forward, and turned it slightly to get a better look at it.

Kaoru looked around Haruhi and gasped when he saw the purple mark. "It looks just like a hand! Who grabbed you? Was it Kyoya?"

"**What did he do?"** They both turned to glare at Kyoya, who was still hanging in midair, trying to wake up. Hunny was next to Tamaki, who was still standing where Mori had set him down to the side of the doorway. Hunny knew that Kyoya could never do anything to hurt Haruhi, but the situation did look bad. He clung to Tamaki's arm, ready to restrain him if he decided to lunge at his friend. "Tama-chan, I'm sure there's an explanation. You know Kyou-chan wouldn't hurt Haru..."

Kyoya became aware of where he was, who was there, and what he had been doing when they arrived. He opened his eyes, and could see the blurred outline of the twins in bed with Haruhi, glaring at him. He saw two blonde heads - Tamaki and Hunny - standing by the door, Hunny looking concerned, and Tamaki as white as a sheet. Then he looked back to Haruhi, and he registered the look of shock on her face. He realized what the silky, squealing thing he had grabbed on his way out of bed was. He knew the only person left, and the only person capable of holding him like this, was Mori. It was nothing new to Kyoya, or to Haruhi, for that matter, that the rest of the Host Club would choose inopportune moments to make their appearance. But this, this one took the cake. "Mori-senpai... put... me...down..." His voice was low and dangerous. Mori set him down and backed away slowly - he might be strong and fearless, but he wasn't stupid. Even he was intimidated by the dark, angry aura emanating from Kyoya. And Haruhi, who was rarely afraid of anything, shrank back into the pillows and the safety of the twin's clutches. She had only heard stories of how scary Kyoya could be first thing in the morning, and she had brushed them off as exaggerations. But this was no joke - they had awakened the Dark Lord.

He raised his head, and the others (except for Tamaki) gasped when they saw his face. His eye was swollen and dark purple, and his lip was puffy as well. He looked like he had been in a fistfight, something none of them ever imagined that Kyoya was capable of.

Kyoya's voice seemed to have snapped Tamaki out of his daze. Tamaki turned from white to dark red, and looked as though he might explode with fury. He strode aggressively across the room, Hunny clinging to his waist, trying to hold him back. He succeeded in stopping the irate blonde just outside of arm's reach from Kyoya. "How dare you take away our daughter without telling me where you're going?! I was sick with worry - I had no idea where she was, or who had taken her. I thought she had been kidnapped by yakuza, or sold into slavery! Even Ranka-san only had the vaguest idea of where you were, but you, you had charmed her somehow, you sneaky daughter-thief, into thinking everything was just fine. How could it be fine, when our daughter was missing? And then to find you here, like that, with our own DAUGHTER! You perverted, despicable... _vous traître! Je - __" _ For a moment Haruhi thought that Tamaki must have lost his mind and begun speaking in tongues, and then it dawned on her that the strange sounds bubbling out of his mouth must be French, his native language. Tamaki was obviously too upset to realize that he was treading on thin ice with an increasingly angry Dark Lord. The twins huddled closer to Haruhi on the bed, as Mori joined Hunny in restraining Tamaki.

Kyoya stood calmly, the darkening gleam in his eyes the only thing betraying his anger. _That buffoon_, he thought. _If I had dropped in, unannounced, on his holiday with Haruhi, he would be just as livid as he is now._ The muscles on his jaw twitched as Kyoya restrained the urge to punch Tamaki - an urge he had not had since middle school. _But can I really blame him, considering what he's just seen? It was taken totally out of context, but still... would I have thought any different if I had walked in on us just now?_ As angry as he was at being woken up far too early in the morning, he knew he was out of line. But the interruption rankled him - they should not have been there at all. If they had not been, he might have been able to recover himself and explain things in such a way as to smooth it all over, and confess his feelings to Haruhi now that she was awake to hear him. The realization that he had missed his second chance because of their intrusion became too much for him.

"This was part of the arrangement for the challenge winner, you know," Kyoya finally said. "Twenty-four hours to spend, ALONE, with the host of their choice." Tamaki seemed not to hear, and continued ranting about how he had called the police, the national rescue, everyone he could think of, until Mori, of all people, had said simply, 'Kyoya...' Apparently, from that point, Tamaki had been able to talk to one of the Ootori family valets and discovered their location. Kyoya made a mental note to have the man fired, and then turned on Tamaki, his voice low and dangerous.

"Tamaki Suou - we all had an agreement. If you did not have the honor to abide by an agreement that you made, you never should have made it."

This stopped Tamaki, and he stood for a moment, his mouth opening and closing like a fish as he searched for a response.

"It was never an agreement for you to assualt your guest, Kyoya! What the hell were you doing?" Tamaki was so livid that Hunny and Mori had to struggle to keep him back. Haruhi watched this with shock - she had never seen Tamaki yell at his best friend like this before. She tried to open her mouth to say something, but the words stuck in her throat.

Kyoya stood quietly, seething. He squinted at Tamaki, only an arm's length from him. He didn't need his glasses to see the furious expression in his friend's usually benevolent face. _This is absurd - I don't have to explain myself, and certainly not to the likes of __you__._ His thoughts were racing, but he chose not to say anything else. After all, there was no talking to Tamaki when he was upset. So instead, he His thoughts shocked everyone by turning around and leaving. Slamming the door behind him, he stopped outside, realizing that he had just stormed out without his glasses, coat, and shoes. He sighed heavily, then fumbled his way to his own room. Once inside, he locked the door and flopped onto his own bed. He winced, realizing that he was still sore from the beating he had received last night. He mulled over the events of the night before - dancing, laughing, kissing Haruhi, the fight, then her sleeping through his confession. _The timing was perfect then_ - _how will I tell her now, after all the commotion this morning? I'll never get another chance alone with her, not after that mess. _In his frustration, he sat up and started strangling his pillow, imagining a certain head of blonde hair was in its place. "Damn you and your meddling!!"

--

Back in the other room, Haruhi explained everything that had happened to the others. (Except for the kiss - she wasn't sure she wanted anyone to know about that just yet, especially considering the strange somersaults her stomach did whenever she thought about it.) Hunny, Kaoru, and Hikaru were all cuddled around her, and Tamaki sat at her feet while Mori stood at the end of the bed. They all watched her, agape with disbelief that Kyoya, KYOYA, of all people, was the person she was talking about.

"... Kyoya actually fought with them?" Hikaru asked, disbelieving.

"Is that how he got that shiner?" Kaoru seemed just as incredulous, but sympathetic, considering that Kyoya had been injured.

Hunny clutched her remaining sleeve tightly, his eyes wide with concern. "Oh no, Haru-chan, the thugs tore your dress? And hurt your arm? We thought..."

"...Yeah, we thought Kyoya..." Mori shifted his weight from one foot to the other, suddenly feeling sheepish that he had dragged Kyoya out of bed after what he had been through the night before.

"NO! He helped me, that's how he got hurt. He got in a fight with those men to let me get away. He has a bad cut, too, and I think his glasses are broken." She looked to the bedside table, where Kyoya's bent glasses sat. She sighed heavily, still sitting on the bed. "I must have fallen asleep in the car on the way back. The next thing I remember, I was waking up with Kyoya and trying get out of bed, but he was still sleeping... and then you all barge in and there's all this yelling..."

"So... nothing happened with you and Kyoya..." Tamaki finally spoke up. He had listened to the entire story with an uncharacteristic silence. He realized what awful things he had said to his friend, his best friend, when Kyoya had done nothing wrong. In fact, he had only done what any of them would have done - he had defended her. He protected her, and had been hurt for his effort. Tamaki felt terrible.

Haruhi blushed, thinking of their accidental kiss the night before. "No, nothing like what you're thinking... perverts..."

--

Author's Note: OK, so, lots of things to talk about! First off, the dream - I do know that the shadow-hands thing sounds an awful lot like the Gate from FMA - I didn't realize until my imouto read this chapter and mentioned it to me. Its not a bad analogy, so if you know the reference, go with it! And haha! The Host Club is back! We all knew they would show up eventually. Now what? Wait and see :D And, by the way, I am sooo sorry that it took my longer than I promised to post this chapter. Especially because I still haven't finished writing the next chapter, and I dont know how long it will take me. So, this might be the last one for a little while :-( It may take a while, especially since I have classes now. Anyways, you know the drill - please review! And as always, super thank-yous to all of you readers, and especially to my reviewers! Xoxoxo - htac :3

PS - In case anyone was wondering, Tamaki called Kyoya a traitor. I don't speak French, so I had to rely on an online translator for help, and any other insult I typed in didn't seem to translate well, so, thats what I ended up with.

Hooray for illustrations! Just cut, paste, and delete the spaces - http : / / melovedogboy . deviantart . com /art/Discovery-98154290


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